Junot Diaz is a Dominican-American novelist and writer. He serves as a creative writing professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His service also extended further as a fiction editor at Boston Review.
He has worked in a volunteer organization in Georgia providing services to undocumented immigrants, as well as for Freedom University he has worked on the board of advisers.
He graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Art. Subsequently, he did MFA from Cornwell University. Shortly after that, he published his short stories collection “Drown” in 1996.
Moreover, his novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” written in 2007 had received a Pulitzer Prize for its distinguished fiction. Also, the “Drown” collection of his short stories was written in 1996. The crucial concern for his writings was showcasing the experiences of Dominican immigrants.
A Short Biography of Junot Díaz
Junot Diaz was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on December 31, 1968. He was the third among siblings. He spent most of his childhood living with his mother and grandparents. However, his father worked in America. In 1974, he was reconciled with his father when his family moved to Parlin, New Jersey.
He did his early schooling in Madison Park Elementary. Since childhood, he was a voracious reader. In order to quench his desire for learning and reading, he would walk four miles towards the public library to borrow books.
He had a penchant for Sci-fi and apocalyptic books and films that includes the work of John Christopher, the original Planet of the Apes films, and the BBC mini-series Edge of Darkness.
In the beginning, he had a lot of difficulty in learning English, unlike his other siblings. Therefore, his school contacted his parents to take their consent to put Diaz in special education to provide better learning opportunities for him.
Diaz graduated from Cedar Ridge High School in 1987. He also attended Kean College in Union for one year. Afterward, he majored in English at Rutgers University-New Brunswick in 1992.
Furthermore, he was motivated by Toni Morrison and Sandra Cisneros to adopt the writing profession. Moreover, he washed dishes, pumped gas, and worked at Raritan River Steel in order to support himself.
He served as an editorial assistant at Rutgers University Press, after the completion of his graduation from Rutgers. At that time, he created a semi-autobiographical narrative character named Yunior.
This character later becomes the part of the main narrations in his later works as well including “Drown” and “This Is How You Lose Her”. Later on, he did MFA at Cornell University. Most short stories of his first collection “Drown ” were written there.
Apart from his two notable works “Drown” and “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” another award-winning work also came to the spotlight “This Is How You Lose Her”. This book won “The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award”.
Moreover, he was also awarded honorary degrees and awards such as an ‘Honorary Doctorate’ from Brown University and the ‘Norman Mailer Prize for Distinguished Writing,’ both in 2013.
However, he also came across serious accusations from some writers including Zinzi Clemmons, Carmen Maria Machado, Monica Byrne, and Alisa Valdes. But these writers hadn’t made him guilty.
After his Pulitzer Prize his fiancée Marisol Alcantara broke up with him and split their ways. However, his domestic relationship with a writer Marjorie Liu was also claimed.
Moreover, he also shared his terrible memories of his unfortunate childhood. He told her that he was sexually abused by the grown man he trusted. He has written down his dreadful past experience in the essay “The Silence: The Legacy of Childhood Trauma”. In this, he represents his tormented life how he was raped several times when he was 8 years old.
Junot Díaz’s Writing style
Diaz’s writing style is real. His portrayal is never faked by the layers of fiction nor does he hide anything from readers. He wants his readers to connect deeply with whatever experiences he is sharing. His main focus stays upon the immigrants’ experiences.
Moreover, he inserts certain symbols in order to draw his reader’s attention. The symbols help readers to evaluate the inner conflict of the characters which is not so visible on the surface. Also, The symbols are used as a backdrop to demonstrate violence and political tumult.
For instance, Diaz inserted the symbol of “faceless man” in his novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”. This symbol provides an insight into political violence. Further, it represents the worst face of human nature.
Similarly, to give rich details about the surroundings and characters’ personalities he particularly draws incredible imagery. As well as, he titillates the readers by his use of hyperbole along.
Language
Diaz has instilled a blend of Spanish-English slang to make the readers feel the originality of his language. The use employed by him is symbolic. It pinpoints the background and provides historical details on the Dominican Republic.
In contrast to traditional writing styles he used informal Spanish phrases like “hija de a gran puta” (which means “fucking son of a bitch”) in “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”.
Moreover, one sees the shifts of point of view in his novel. He tells the stories from different perspectives. Additionally, he provides some fascinating footnotes to elaborate on some Dominican historical events.
Diaz’s concern with Dominican Diaspora
He provides the depiction of callous invaders on Dominican land. Their displacement and moving to the United States. In this way, he represents a violent history and unending miseries of immigrants. He frequently represents the perturbed lives Dominican Republic in the United States.
Searching for identity
His writings provide evidence of the immigrants’ dangling situation in search of identities. He emphasized how being an immigrant they lost their respect for existence. They mingled with foreign cultures. At some points, they seem to be fancying other cultures. On the other hand, Diaz showed immigrants’ desire to fit into foreign culture along with their Dominico heritage.
Moreover, he also depicts the immigrants being outsiders forever. Americans never accepted them as their part rather they remained unwelcomed throughout. His novel “Drown” illustrates the endeavors of the Dominican immigrant who tried to find his own lost identity.
Diaz’s Political Art
Diaz criticizes the ideals of the American Dream. In contrast to the American Dream, he highlighted the torments of immigrants at the hands of American authorities and rules. As a matter of fact, all the claims were put forward via the American Dream.
His writings are an illustration of the ordeal of immigrants under the banner of the American Dream. He represents the biases in regard to democracy, equality, liberty of the United States.
Moreover, his art is the representation of white supremacy. Dominicans on the other hand neither can exercise democracy nor do they have any opportunities to make their lives better. In “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” he portrays the sufferings of an immigrant who is treated as a second-class citizen on the basis of race and color.