When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine Study Guide

Lahiri was born in London and raised in a small town in Rhode Island; her parents emigrated from Calcutta, and they frequently brought Lahiri and her younger sister to visit relatives back in India. After moving to New York City to college, Lahiri returned to New England, completing three simultaneous master’s degrees—and a PhD—at Boston University. While in Boston, she began to write the short stories (including when “Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”) that would be compiled as her first book, Interpreter of Maladies. Published in 1999 to critical acclaim, Interpreter won the Pulitzer Prize and was heralded for its intimate, precise depiction of South Asian lives. Lahiri went on to publish another short story collection (Unaccustomed Earth) and two more English-language novels (The Namesake and The Lowland). After marrying and having children, Lahiri intensified her lifelong study of Italian and now writes primarily in that language.

The backdrop of “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” is the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence (also known as the Bangladesh Liberation War), which began in March of 1971. The story is set from September to early December of that year. Decades before this, in 1947, the Partition of India occurred: British India underwent a tumultuous, violent split along religious lines. The region was split into two Dominions (self-governing nations within the British Empire): the majority-Hindu India and the majority-Muslim Pakistan, which was split into East Pakistan and West Pakistan. However, many East Pakistanis were ethnically and linguistically Bengali, and they did not feel represented by the Urdu-speaking government in West Pakistan. In 1971, in an attempt to quash a growing Bengali independence movement, West Pakistan’s army invaded East Pakistan and committed genocide against the East Pakistani people, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. This genocidal invasion was led by General Yahya Khan, whom Mr. Pirzada and Lilia’s father heatedly discuss in “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine.” On December 4th, 1971, after months of violence and destruction, the Bangladesh War of Independence was officially declared, and India joined the war on the side of East Pakistan. On December 16th, West Pakistan surrendered. West Pakistan became Pakistan, and East Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh.

Lahiri has said that her biggest literary influences are Alice Munro (famous for short stories like “Boys and Girls”) and William Trevor (who writes darkly comic contemporary novels such as Felicia’s Journey).  Both are realist writers, renowned for using simple language to articulate complex emotions and characters—qualities that critics have also attributed to Lahiri’s writings. As an Indian American, Lahiri is also part of a rich tradition of South Asian American writers, many of whom similarly focus on the theme of navigating a dual cultural identity. Examples of South Asian American literature include the play Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar, the novel Gold Diggers by Sanjena Anshu Sathian, and the comedic memoir Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kahling.