For the next week or so, we will be exploring The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz. Oscar Wao, published just this past year, is Diaz's first novel; he published his award-winning book of short stories, Drown, almost ten years ago. Since its publication, Diaz's novel has gone on to win a bevy of prizes, including the vaunted Pulitzer.
Diaz's novel introduces a number of questions we will focus on during this portion of the quarter. Most prominently, the novel asks us to think about the American novel outside of the continental United States. Diaz is Dominican-American and his novel moves smoothly between the Dominican Republic and the U.S., the past and the present, with ease. Diaz's novel represents a move toward a different concept of the nation and citizenship in the nation. It also asks us to think a lot about the form of the novel--as we have been doing thus far in class. Oscar Wao is littered with footnotes that threaten to take over the novel and texts that interweave with Diaz's main narrative. Like Mao II, Diaz's book also asks us to think about the intersection of history and literature; Diaz provides us with a graphic, politicized history of the Dominican Republic at the same time as he gives us a fable about a fat, nerdy Dominican boy in the U.S. who can't get a girl to date him.
I so far have found this novel both entertaining and challenging. The nerdy call-outs are entertaining when I understand it, but a lot of these references seem to be going over my head. I can catch most of the Lord of the Rings references, but a lot of the comic book references/other "nerd culture" references go by without my understanding. Also, the use of Spanish and, occasionally, French really makes reading a challenge at times.
ReplyDeleteMike Herrmann
I really enjoy this novel so far but the only problem is I wish I knew more Spanish so I could understand the Spanish text. Overall, The book is fairly easy to follow when jumping back and fourth from past to present. I find that I usually have difficulty keeping up with books like this but the style in which The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is written makes it much easier to read.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-tD45oj1ro
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to the video I saw on Junot that was very good.
Heaven forbid there are those of us who have not explored the depths of the Sci-Fi ocean of literature or are not current with their subscription to "Spanglish For Dummies". While the book is entertaining, at times, and the characters are somewhat interesting and compelling; I find it also to be too elitist for my taste. Who then is this book written for? Who is his audience? Is it the macho hispanic males? Can they be pried away from their PPS's to read this story of one of their own? Is this even written for the hispanic audience? I think not. Too feminist for their taste I presume. I suspect that Junoz likes reading as Prof. Glaser suggested and that perhaps what the author prefers reading mostly about is himself. This book reminds me of an oft heard saying most often attributed to Goucho Marx; "I would never belong to a club that would have me as a member".
ReplyDeleteThis touches vaguely on the point brought up in class about what it is to be American and what the American novel and experience represents. Is it appealing to the masses, the minority or the lunatic fringe?
M....
Commenting partially on what mpmentat says above:
ReplyDeleteIt can be said that what Junot Diaz is writing in Oscar Wao is for a future audience. A future audience meaning an audience more culturally sound, the white majority turned on its end, calling back to the idea of the "melting pot."
The spanglish in Oscar Wao can sometimes be ignored or contextually defined. It isn't a necessity to get every last word, so in short, i wouldn't go insofar as to call this book "elitist."
In writing a story heavily vested in Dominican culture, I would find it insulting to say the least (through the eyes of people from that culture) to leave out the spanglish, a product of mixing two languages, two cultures. Without the spanglish, it would feel like anybody could have written Oscar Wao, not specifically someone from the DR.
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I feel that Oscar Wao is one of those "perfect" novels. A novel that touches on just about everything, from a very intimate view of unrequited love to the superstition and tradegy of an entire people. I am very happy that Junot Días has come this far, it's important for american literature to represent as many perspectives in order to enlighten us all.
I think "mpmentat" is reacting a bit too fiercely to the novel. I would imagine that this book is not Elitist to Diaz and I dont get the impression that he was attempting to write something elitist as much as I think he was trying to fill a niche that he saw in the world around him. Oscar and his family I feel are more than just a little bit interesting, they are characters that portray real struggle and have cultural identity issues that many people cope with. Their experiences are seemingly exaggerated but like all good fiction have real problems that they have to deal with. Again, I dont think this book was meant to be elitist and "mpmentat" seems a bit too angry for too little reason.
ReplyDeleteSomething that stuck me in the book that was a bit odd, and touched on something that I see in every day life in general. I dont know why Science fiction is given such a bad rap and I dont understand the concept of the "nerd" as a denigrating remark. To me it is terrible that when someone finds something truly interesting in life and spends time exploring a certain culture such as science fiction that they are deemed lower in social rank than anyone else. Part of the social immaturity that OScar experiences is due in part to the looking down on him as being a "nerd" for what interests him. He was destined for a great cultural future and when those that looked down on him were left with no real interests in life here was Oscar with a passion for something and some people think that something is better than nothing. Spending time reading and writing and being interested in a type of culture, why arent we asking why people have problems with his interests. Is it what he is interested in that people have issues with or just him as a person? It just always bothers me when I see the idea of the "nerd" as a character flaw. He may not have had "game" but he wasnt breaking hearts either and being an asshole. He was unique and that admirable.