Overview

The first sustained critical examination of the work of Dominican-American writer Junot Diaz, this interdisciplinary collection considers how Diaz's writing illuminates the world of Latino cultural expression and trans-American and diasporic literary history. Interested in conceptualizing Diaz's decolonial imagination and his radically re-envisioned world, the contributors show how his aesthetic and activist practice reflect a significant shift in American letters toward a hemispheric and planetary culture. They examine the intersections of race, Afro-Latinidad, gender, sexuality, disability, poverty, and power in Diaz's work. Essays in the volume explore issues of narration, language, and humor in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the racialized constructions of gender and sexuality in Drown and This Is How You Lose Her, and the role of the zombie in the short story ""Monstro."" Collectively, they situate Diaz's writing in relation to American and Latin American literary practices and reveal the author's activist investments. The volume concludes with Paula Moya's interview with Diaz. Contributors: Glenda R. Carpio, Arlene Davila, Lyn Di Iorio, Junot Diaz, Monica Hanna, Jennifer Harford Vargas, Ylce Irizarry, Claudia Milian, Julie Avril Minich, Paula M. L. Moya, Sarah Quesada, Jose David Saldivar, Ramon Saldivar, Silvio Torres-Saillant, Deborah R. Vargas

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9780822360339

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Reviews

Junot Diaz and the Decolonial Imagination is as wondrous as the work of the author inspiring it. It contains a rich sampling of interdisciplinary Latino/a studies brilliance that reflects from myriad perspectives the stunning singular influence of Diaz's work. A vibrant analysis of contemporary Latino/a cultural politics and a major contribution. --Richard T. Rodriguez, author of Next of Kin: The Family in Chicano/a Cultural Politics

"""Essential reading for casual readers as well as students and scholars of Junot Díaz's literary production."" -- Marisel Moreno * Modern Fiction Studies * ""A groundbreaking publication which unpacks the levels of complexity of Díaz’s writing and paves the way for future lines of inquiry into his work."" -- Laura Gallon * Textual Practice *"

Junot Diaz and the Decolonial Imagination is as wondrous as the work of the author inspiring it. It contains a rich sampling of interdisciplinary Latino/a studies brilliance that reflects from myriad perspectives the stunning singular influence of Diaz's work. A vibrant analysis of contemporary Latino/a cultural politics and a major contribution. -- Richard T. Rodriguez, author of Next of Kin: The Family in Chicano/a Cultural Politics Powerfully seductive and so cagey that literary classics and models become mere forerunners of his own moves, Junot Diaz does more than delight us. He also arrests the attention of critical readers who accompany him, in great style and subtle substance. This collection of brilliant essays follows Junot's masterful lead to give historical, sociological, linguistic, but primarily and gloriously stylistic accounts of his wrestling American English into an ethnically mixed medium of decolonized compositions. -- Doris Sommer, author of The Work of Art in the World: Civic Agency and Public Humanities

Powerfully seductive and so cagey that literary classics and models become mere forerunners of his own moves, Junot Diaz does more than delight us. He also arrests the attention of critical readers who accompany him, in great style and subtle substance. This collection of brilliant essays follows Junot s masterful lead to give historical, sociological, linguistic, but primarily and gloriously stylistic accounts of his wrestling American English into an ethnically mixed medium of decolonized compositions. --Doris Sommer, author of The Work of Art in the World: Civic Agency and Public Humanities

Junot Diaz and the Decolonial Imagination is as wondrous as the work of the author inspiring it. It contains a rich sampling of interdisciplinary Latino/a studies brilliance that reflects from myriad perspectives the stunning singular influence of Diaz's work. A vibrant analysis of contemporary Latino/a cultural politics and a major contribution. -- Richard T. Rodriguez, author of Next of Kin: The Family in Chicano/a Cultural Politics Powerfully seductive and so cagey that literary classics and models become mere forerunners of his own moves, Junot Diaz does more than delight us. He also arrests the attention of critical readers who accompany him, in great style and subtle substance. This collection of brilliant essays follows Junot's masterful lead to give historical, sociological, linguistic, but primarily and gloriously stylistic accounts of his wrestling American English into an ethnically mixed medium of decolonized compositions. -- Doris Sommer, author of The Work of Art in the World: Civic Agency and Public Humanities To have my work written about so brilliantly is an honor beyond dreams. -- Junot Diaz Facebook

Author Information

Monica Hanna is Assistant Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at California State University, Fullerton. Jennifer Harford Vargas is Assistant Professor of English at Bryn Mawr College. JosÉ David SaldÍvar is Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University and the author of Trans-Americanity: Subaltern Modernities, Global Coloniality, and the Cultures of Greater Mexico, also published by Duke University Press.

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