Research Article
Memory and History in Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/eai.8-9-2020.2301405, author={Lestari Manggong}, title={Memory and History in Junot D\^{\i}az’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao}, proceedings={Proceedings of the First International Conference on Communication, Language, Literature, and Culture, ICCoLLiC 2020, 8-9 September 2020, Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia}, publisher={EAI}, proceedings_a={ICCOLLIC}, year={2020}, month={10}, keywords={junot d\^{\i}az latin american literature memory history dehistorization}, doi={10.4108/eai.8-9-2020.2301405} }- Lestari Manggong
Year: 2020
Memory and History in Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
ICCOLLIC
EAI
DOI: 10.4108/eai.8-9-2020.2301405
Abstract
Postmodern and magic realistic in nature, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a novel by a contemporary Latin American author Junot Díaz, collates memory and history through the narrator’s perception. This essay aims to discuss the different degree of perceptions of the Dominican Republic based on the memory and tale of the Fukú through shifts of focalizations in identifying Oscar Wao’s Hispanic heritage. The analytical methodology will have its base on the characteristics of Latin American literature, focusing on issues namely: narrating uncertainty, marginalization, and dehistorization. The main finding of this essay shows that being hybrid in nature, Oscar Wao is symptomatic as having comic realistic view upon identifying his Latin American self. The argument proposed in this essay is that in the novel, there is a narrative tendency of dehistoricizing the Dominican Republic as a reaction to the need to assimilate in the U.S. soil.