Synopses & Reviews
The first sustained critical examination of the work of Dominican-American writer Junot Dandiacute;az, this interdisciplinary collection considers how Dandiacute;azand#39;s writing illuminates the world of Latino cultural expression and trans-American and diasporic literary history. Interested in conceptualizing Dandiacute;azand#39;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 Dandiacute;azand#39;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 andquot;Monstro.andquot; Collectively, they situate Dandiacute;azandrsquo;s writing in relation to American and Latin American literary practices and reveal the authorandrsquo;s activist investments. The volume concludes with Paula Moyaand#39;s interview with Dandiacute;az.
Contributors: Glenda R. Carpio, Arlene Dandaacute;vila, Lyn Di Iorio, Junot Dandiacute;az, Monica Hanna, Jennifer Harford Vargas, Ylce Irizarry, Claudia Milian, Julie Avril Minich, Paula M. L. Moya, Sarah Quesada, Josandeacute; David Saldandiacute;var, Ramandoacute;n Saldandiacute;var, Silvio Torres-Saillant, Deborah R. Vargasand#160;and#160;
Review
andquot;Junot Dandiacute;az 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 Dandiacute;azand#39;s work. A vibrant analysis of contemporary Latino/a cultural politics and a major contribution.andquot;and#160;
Review
andquot;Powerfully seductive and so cagey that literary classics and models become mere forerunners of his own moves, Junot Dandiacute;az 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 Junotandrsquo;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.andquot;
Synopsis
This interdisciplinary collection considers how Dominican-American writer Junot Dandiacute;azand#39;s aesthetic and activist practice reflect an unprecedented maturation of a shift in American letters toward a hemispheric and planetary culture. Career spanning, the essays examine the intersections of race, Afro-Latinidad, gender, sexuality, disability, poverty, and power in Dandiacute;azand#39;s work.and#160;
About the Author
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.
Josandeacute; David Saldandiacute;var 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.and#160;
Table of Contents
Acknowledgmentsand#160; vii
Editorsand#39; Introduction. Junot Dandiacute;az and the Decolonial Imagination: From Island to Empireand#160; 1
Part I. Activist Aesthetics
1. Against the andquot;Discursive Latinoandquot;: On the Politics and Praxis of Junot Dandiacute;azand#39;s Latinidad / Arlene Dandaacute;vilaand#160; 33
2. The Decolonizerand#39;s Guide to Disability / Julie Avril Minichand#160; 49
3. Laughing through a Broken Mouth in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao / Lyn Di Iorioand#160; 69
4. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Cannibalist: Reading Yunior (Writing) in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao / Monica Hannaand#160; 89
Part II. Mapping Literary Geographies
5. Artistry, Ancestry, and Americanness in the Works of Junot Dandiacute;az / Silvio Torres-Saillantand#160; 115
6. This Is How You Lose it: Navigating Dominicanidad in Junot Dandiacute;azand#39;s Drown / Ylce Irizarryand#160; 147
7. Latino/a Deracination and the New Latin American Novel / Claudia Milianand#160; 173
8. Dictating a Zafa: The Power of Narrative Form as Ruin-Reading / Jennifer Harford Vargasand#160; 201
Part III. Doing Race in Spanglish
9. Dismantling the Masterand#39;s House: The Decolonial Literary Imaginations of Audre Lorde and Junot Dandiacute;az / Paula M. L. Moyaand#160; 231
10. Now Check It: Junot Dandiacute;azand#39;s Wondrous Spanglish / Glenda Carpioand#160; 257
11. A Planetary Warning?: The Multilayered Caribbean Zombie in andquot;Monstroandquot; / Sarah Quesadaand#160; 291
Part IV. Desiring Decolonization
12. Junot Dandiacute;azand#39;s Search for Decolonial Aesthetics and Love / Josandeacute; David Saldandiacute;varand#160; 321
13. Sucia Love: Losing, Lying, and Leaving in Junot Dandiacute;azand#39;s This Is How You Lose Her / Deborah R. Vargasand#160; 351
14. andquot;Christe Apocalyptusandquot;: Prospero in the Caribbean and the Art of Power / Ramandoacute;n Saldandiacute;varand#160; 377
15. The Search for Decolonial Love: A Conversation between Junot Dandiacute;az and Paula / M. L. Moyaand#160; 391
Bibliographyand#160; 403
Contributorsand#160; 425
Index