Junot Diaz's book is meant to be read as written by Oscar. The book that Yunior says never arrives, the one that will conclude with the Cosmo DNA, is this very book (with the additions that Lola makes). I say this because the book was not to be sent to Yunior at all but to Lola (333). I know that sounds kranky but it explains those episodes where the narration switches from the first person narration of Yunior to that of an omniscient observant, as in the account of Oscar’s last moments on earth in the canefield and his last words. In this narration, Oscar is giving his death the meaning he seeks to use as a zafa against the fuku. And what is that meaning: that what makes life wondrous is not what we live for (the fucking around) but what we are willing to die for. And finally, we have the enigmatic statement early on in the book that it is a good thing for American letters that Manny did not come home on the night Oscar was waiting for him with a gun (47):
His head contained zero, a perfect vacuum. He saw his entire writing future flash before his eyes; he’d only written one novel worth a damn, about an Australian hunger spirit preying on a group of small-town friends, wouldn’t get a chance to write anything better— career over. Luckily for the future of American Letters, Manny did not come home that night.
Oscar did achieve his dream of becoming the Dominican Tolkien (192). If we think Oscar could not have written this book in the voice of Yunior, how then Junot Diaz?
Comments