Junot Diaz

Díaz was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on December 31, 1968. He has two brothers and two sisters. Growing up, Díaz and his siblings lived in Santo Domingo with their mother while Díaz’s father went to the United States to work. His father sent for his family when Díaz was six. Their family lived in a poor part of New Jersey populated primarily by Dominicans.
He was a poor student at Madison Park Elementary and then at Cedar Ridge High School. Worked at a mill and at a pool house.
1992 - Graduated from Rutgers; creates "Yunior", who served as narrator of several of his later books
1995 - MFA from Cornell University, while working as editorial assistant at Rutgers Press. Publishe his first short story collection "Drown"
2007 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao wins several awards.

 2012 - Publishes short story collection This is How you Lose Her (with "Otravida Otravez")

Dominican Republic Timeline

- Belongs to the Island of Hispaniola, as well as Haiti

- It is the 2nd largest country in the West Indies (the largest is Cuba) with 48 442 km2 and 10 million inhabitants

- Taino Indians settled there at least since the 7th century

- 1492 - arrival of Christopher Columbus makes of the Dominican Republic the first permanent American colony, and Santo Domingo was the first Spanish capital in the New World. During the 16th century vast numbers of African slaves were imported into the island and they were forced to work on sugar plantations. 

- The west of the island was left largely empty and in the 17th century the French settled there. Finally in 1697 the Spanish and French signed the Treaty of Ryswick. France was given the western third of the island of Hispaniola. The rest remained in Spanish hands. 

- 1821 - occupation by Haiti, which country had gotten its independence in 1804

- 1844  - Dominican War of Independence signified 72 years of Civil War, with period of annexation by Spain. 

- 1916-1924: the USA afraid that Germany might intervene in the Dominican Republic occupied the country.

- 1924: Horacio Vasquez becomes President of D. R. 

- 1930: Rafael Trujillo staged a coup and became a dictator. Trujillo ruled Dominican Republic for 31 years till he was assassinated in 1961. 

- 1962: Free elections followed by military coups followed by US intervention

- 1966-1978: Joaquin Balaguer is elected President with some economic stability

- After two other presidents, Balaguer reelected again from 1990 to 1996 when he is forced to step down and be replaced by Leonel Fernandez of the opposition. Today's president is Danilo Medina, of the Dominican Liberation Party

Homework for April 26 - Otravida Otravez by Junot Diaz

Answer one of the following:

1. What are the main stylistic features of the narratorial voice, in your opinion?

2. Do you find any symbolism in the narrator's profession? If so, explain.

3. How do you account for the title?

A Walk with Thoreau

Homework (reading for April 10, food for thought for April 19) - Walking by H. D. Thoreau

- Is there a thought on race and ethnicity embedded in Thoreau's essay? How might one interpret it?

- Choose the most striking passage from the excerpt. Comment on its contents and also on the rhetoric devices of persuasion it might contain.

Writing Assignment and Research Plan

Until the 3rd May you should decide on your final writing assignment, sending an email with your topic and the type of essay to the teacher, liteua19@gmail.com. The format is free between a literary text review (read guidelines from "Assumptions" onwards), a comparative essay, or a research paper with an argumentative topic

On the 15th May you are required to deliver a 2-page max. plan for research paper with an annotated bibliography. In your plan you should include your thesis statement, at least 3 (sub)topics with reference to evidence, and what your expected findings are.

Formal Guidelines
Formatting: Letter type 12, double spaced
Quotations, references and bibliography: see teacher's guidelines sent by email
Max. length: 1600 words excluding bibliography

Oral Presentations: 22nd and 24th May (by alphabetical order)
Final version due: June 5 (printed, in the teacher's mailbox upstairs left; or, if mailbox is full, in a sealed envelope duly addressed with the security at the Faculty's entrance)

Annotated Bibliography

What does an annotated bibliography look like?

An annotated bibliography starts with the bibliographic details of a source (the citation) followed by a brief annotation.

As with a normal reference list or bibliography, an annotated bibliography is usually arranged alphabetically according to the author’s last name. An annotated bibliography summary for each entry should not be more than 80 words. Summary should inlude an evaluation (why the work is useful) and/or an explanation of value (relevance of the citation for the research paper) (

Purpose of an annotated bibliography

Depending on your specific assignment, an annotated bibliography might:

• review the literature of a particular subject;
• demonstrate the quality and depth of reading that you are processing;
• exemplify the scope of sources available—such as journals, books, web sites and magazine articles;
• highlight sources that may be of interest to other readers and researchers;
• explore and organise sources for further research.

Questions to Consider 

1. What topic/ problem am I investigating?
2. What question(s) am I exploring? Identify the aim of your literature research.
3. What kind of material am I looking at and why? Am I looking for journal articles, reports, policies or primary historical data?
4. Am I being judicious in my selection of texts? Does each text relate to my research topic and assignment requirements?
5. What are the essential or key texts on my topic? Am I finding them? Are the sources valuable or often referred to in other texts?

Sample entry for annotated bibliography

Zinman, Toby Silverman. “‘In the presence of mine enemies’: Adrienne Kennedy’s An Evening with Dead Essex.’’ Studies in American Drama, 1945-Present 6 (1991): 3-13. 

Zinman analyzes the play in terms of “presence” and absence” of the characters, but as he says, not in as complex a manner as they are used to in the theories of Lacan, Saussure, and Derrida. He contends that the real subject of the play is absent (Essex) and that Kennedy has not found “a satisfying way to present absence on stage” in this play (12).  The article was interesting, but I’m still not sure what a satisfactory absence would be. 

Mitchell, Jason. “PMLA Letter.” 1991. 23 May 1996. 

<http:10/28/2008/sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu/-jmitchel/plma.htm>

Mitchell protests the “pretentious gibberish” of modern literary critics in his letter to PMLA. He argues that “Eurojive” is often produced by English professors to show that their status is equal to that of math and science faculty. His sense of humor makes this letter a great read.