Frequent cursing, slang, and playfully jumping from one sensitive topic to another all seem like unlikely behavior from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. But that is exactly what Junot Díaz lives by and promotes: straying from the norm.
The Dominican-American author and MIT professor paid a visit to Fairfield this past Monday, speaking at both the Open Visions Forum and a special workshop held by the University’s celebrated “Gateways” English course. He presented himself in a manner that many may find as offensive, but that Díaz finds to be most effective in prescribing a deviation from society’s beliefs.
At the Open Visions lecture, Díaz admitted that he could not explain this material under a guise of formality. “We all have tons of masks, but in some ways the burden of keeping that mask on is a price I can’t pay,” he said.
He explained how his informal “street talk” allows him to better discuss his art. “I need that comfort for talking about something uncomfortable.”
Díaz led by example, dropping F-bombs throughout his sophisticated lecture and going “against the grain” by disproving preconceived notions of how people of his stature should conduct themselves. He described how society attempts to generalize experiences, cultures, and people, and how we can combat it.
“The only way to be free from any narrative, story, or history that bedevils us is to confront it,” Díaz said. “When you push deep into the thing, you can actually have a reckoning with it.”
It has been these past reckonings that have spawned the most influential works in the history of literature. “The absolute driving quality of all literature that survives a year is the act of particularity,” said Díaz.
At the workshop held for the “Gateways” course, in which a small group of Bridgeport high school students were in attendance, Díaz attempted to counter another of society’s mandates.
Peter Caty/The Mirror
“Society tells you to make money,” Díaz said, but what’s more important is finding your passion, your dream, and pursuing it. “Nothing will kill a soul quite like living someone else’s dream.”
Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Díaz was the third of five children; “the smart one,” according to his mother. Díaz recalled how throughout his childhood she implored him to become a lawyer or doctor and it was not until he was 27 that he realized he was on the wrong path. “It took me a very long time to stop dreaming my mother’s dreams for me,” he said.
In 1975 his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Parlin, New Jersey. He worked full-time to finance his years at Rutgers University and graduated with a BA in English. In 1995, Díaz earned his MFA in creative writing at Cornell University. Several of his works have been featured in The New Yorker and his first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, earned the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, among other awards.
Díaz currently works as a professor of creative writing at MIT and he is also as the fiction editor for the Boston Review.
Surprisingly enough, Díaz’s message was heard and his use of inappropriate language was not mistaken for nonsensical vulgarity. Grant Haskell, a resident of Bridgeport, expressed this understanding.
“I enjoyed it [Díaz’s language] because it was varied and it helped him articulate his thoughts,” he said.
Miriam Sanchez and Cheril Perez, both sophomores of Dominican heritage, enjoyed how Díaz’s Wao and his demeanor “really portrayed Dominican culture,” according to Sanchez.
Edrik López, professor of English, also approved of Díaz’s diction. “I thought it showed an ability to be extremely intelligent while speaking ‘street language,’” said López, one of the coordinators of Díaz’s visit to Fairfield. López told how it was important for students to see an intelligent individual who strays away from the conventional archetype of “the erudite professor.”
For those in attendance, that archetype may be forever shattered thanks to Díaz. “I make art; I’m a f*****g artist,” he said.
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