Junot Diaz: Inward Inspiration Turned Outward (r2)

       As you might be able to notice, the work if Junot Diaz has been an object of interest for me, i.e. each time I read one of his books it gets polished off faster than a small veggie and cheese pizza when I can't remember basic verb conjugations. Ahem, anyway, back to Diaz. Whenever an author captivates my attention, my curiosity gets hyped up and I do a little research. What I found was a source of raw, inward inspiración unleashed by Diaz's command of prose.
      Diaz's three works "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" and most recently "This Is How You Lose Her", all are focused on giving insight into the lives of Caribbean immigrants, the challenges they face, assimilation and the balance of cultures, as well as the history and environs of the Dominican Republic (most notably Santo Domingo). Being that Diaz offers us such rich and cutting images of people hoping to get by while either holding on to or slowly drifting from their homeland, I wasn't completely surprised that Diaz's life mirrors much of the content in his oeuvre.
     Junot Diaz was born in the Domincan Republic, living in Santo Domingo until the age of seven, when his father returned to the island to bring his mother, Diaz, and his four brothers and sisters to the United States. Diaz lived in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, a neighborhood primarily inhabited primarily by Dominican immigrants, an area working amongst poverty. It is these barrios that provide much of the backdrop for Diaz's settings. Diaz spent this time reading voraciously, much like the character Oscar, enough to launch him from the barrio to Rutgers University, another setting commonly found. An MFA from Cornell later, a collection of short stories, and Diaz is teaching at M.I.T.
     It's quite the whirlwind, one whose various stages may be picked out by those who study his work. I think what I like best is that Diaz embraces this complex makeup, not only in his own life but in the lives he creates for his characters. Perhaps the best way Diaz has put it was in an interview with the New York Times, "...That is the great multiplicity of life. We too often prefer our more comfortable slices rather than the disorganized raucous pie. I am who I am because of those different parts."