Review Of Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

For literature to be popularized, it has to fit into the standards of contemporary society or completely go against it. Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar completely goes against what is considered traditional when it comes to Dominican depiction. Oscar Wao is a narrative that follows various protagonists in their struggle with Fuku and Dominican life. Some notable themes include family, magic, fantasy, tragedy, romance, and dictatorship. Author Tim Lanzendörfer's article, “The Marvelous History of the Dominican Republic in Junot Díaz's ‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’”, offers an analysis of Oscar Wao that looks at narration and the author's choice of explanations. Junot Diaz is an unusual writer, not easily categorized into

In his article, “‘I Was a Ghetto Nerd Supreme’: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Latina/o Futurity in Junot Díaz's ‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’”, author Joy Sanches-Taylor goes into depth about some of the characteristics that make Oscar Wao unique within a cultural context. Sanches-Taylor writes, "no one could mistake Oscar Wao for a science fiction novel, questions of where the genre fits into both the literary world and the world of human experience recur throughout the book." Oscar Wao is a combination of various elements such as history and culture that help to demonstrate the world of Oscar Wao. These elements do not follow traditional standards of genre and in doing so offer wide accessibility to connect to the reader. Rather than follow logical trends, Diaz introduces a mysterious sort of magic to describe history. It is elements like this that distinguish Diaz. By not committing himself to the rules of a predetermined genre, Diaz is able to present a story that communicates a personal interpretation of Dominican life. For Diaz, this interpretation is as real as fact. Dominican culture to Diaz is sad, funny, deeply rooted in masculinity and sex, family oriented, cursed, tragic, overall, an epic experience that cannot be explained by traditional standards of logic and truth. Diaz’s work is fiction, but that’s not the point. Through fiction and

In his article, author Sanches-Taylor discusses worldwide implications that Oscar Wao has. Sanches-Taylor asserts, "Diaz's choice to include references to sf/f texts allows him to comment on current and future possibilities for Dominican and Dominican American culture" (sf/f refers to science fiction, fantasy fiction and horror fiction genre). In short, Oscar Wao is a means for Diaz to discuss the Dominican culture without assimilating to it. It is unwise to take Diaz's comments as fact, but his perspective is unique because he is not a native Dominican, offering an "outside perspective" (Sanches-Taylor). The use of popular culture references specifically allows for Diaz to avoid conformity. Everyone knows popular, it's a means to relate to the reader. The reader does not have to understand the reference. The reader can see that Diaz's story is univeral and quirky. The story is not a history book, though it has history. This book is not read to learn about history, but to see what Diaz thinks about it. Because Yunior is an unreliable narrator, the reader understands that everything written by Diaz, including the footnotes, are unreliable. Not every claim by Diaz can be proven to the degree of becoming a standardized textbook, like fuku. The complexity of Dominican life can only be explained by fictional references to comics. Dominican life is crazy and