The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Week One - Part 1 (11/1 to 11/7) (November 2012)

[William]

So, we begin a new and much lauded book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao This week, we'll only be discussing Part 1, but with side questions and issues in other threads as well. The most important beginning is to help those with Dominican slang issues! Fear not: http://www.annotated-oscar-wao.com/

There will be lots of little side discussions in the Oscar Wao folder, and I'll try to add links in the weekly discussions as we go as well. Please ask questions or comments if you're having trouble or have questions. If you're reading this as an audiobook or e-book and can't tell where sections are, give a yell as well.

[Casceil]

For anyone listening to the audio book, if you can get your hands on a physical copy it's good to have. Otherwise it is not always obvious where footnotes are being folded into text. Even if you're not going to buy a paper copy, you might want to flip through one in a bookstore or library.

[Catherine]

Will wrote: "So, we begin a new and much lauded book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao This week, we'll only be discussing Part 1, but with side questions and issues in other threads as well. The most impor..."

Will, what a great resource! Thank you for posting it.

[William]

So, the Introduction and First Chapter, we get a crash course in the regional history and get Oscar's early life. What impressions did you have on the history? For me, it almost seemed fake and movie like, and I had to remind myself it actually happened! Wild tales, no?

As for chapter one, I think every male over the age of 20 has had some experience with a young woman that mirrors some details found here. The dreaded "friend-zone" plus watching someone elses's relationship devolve around them when you wish they'd be closer with you? I know I saw a lot of my friends go through that growing up, and I'm sure I did as well though to be honest in my case I did quite well, but when falling short I usually didn't even make the friend zone, but someplace near the "avoidance-zone" most likely. But back to the point, I think every guy saw this quite a bit growing up.

The issues Oscar has with failing to be identified with other Dominicans as one begins to rear it's head in this section, and bothers him quite a bit. There seems to be a lot of importance on that with Dominicans and a few other groups that I just don't see as strongly in some other backgrounds. Ideas as to why it's so strong with them?

[Casceil]

Oscar seems to believe that Dominican men are all perceived as studly and impressive, and he wants to be part of that group and perceived that way?

I loved the explanation of the Kennedy family curse.

[William]

Well, the theme of he or a member of his family being recognized as Dominican comes up again and again over the course of the novel, male or female, and based on a number of traits. Does anybody have some ideas as to why this sense of belonging seems to be more in the foreground of thoughts for Dominicans as opposed to say, Scots or Hungarians or Cubans? I'm not suggesting the three I mention are NOT at all interested in ethnological identity, just in relation to the seemingly intense interest of Dominicans or say, Puerto Ricans?

[Christine]

Will wrote: "So, we begin a new and much lauded book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao This week, we'll only be discussing Part 1, but with side questions and issues in other threads as well. The most impor..."

Greatly appreciate the annotations, thank you.Glad I have a Spanish/English dictionary on hand as well.Started the book yesterday and I'm halfway through it. Excellent read!

[Deborah]

I don't know how to say this tactfully, delicately, or maybe even coherently. I think anyone who is minority knows that feeling.

Also interestingly, there are feelings of superiority and inferiority in the Latin American world. I grew up in NY, where we have a huge Hispanic population (which I think gives me an advantage with the Spanish in this book. And really compared to the Border Trilogy this is easy peasy. With regards to translating.) Cubans feel far superior to everyone. Colombians have this schism based on where in the country one is from. There are places in South America that think they are better than other places in South America. And while I don't know that there is (or isn't and I suspect there is) an anti-Dominican or anti-Puerto Rican bias, their form of Spanish is looked down upon.

I think as Hungarian or Scot you are white. You are among the majority. But when you are in a culture that is escaping from one place and failing to find acceptance in another, that sense of identity becomes more crucial.

[William]

Well, while grasping what you're saying, you sort of disagree with me an agree with me in the same paragraph. Hungarians were until quite recently the most oppressed European background solely on the basis of their local, meaning ethnic background not related to religion or cross border populations. The history of the late Hapsburgs through WWI reflects this. The US had quotas of allowed numbers of Hungarian background for immigration, though since national background was self-declared, many who figured this out just said they were from someplace nearby.

However your observations about Cubans and Colombians are quite correct, but that is sort of the question: why is there a pecking order within Latino culture that places Dominicans in such a defensive position amongst them? Could it largely continue to be the variant of Spanish? Re language, I have spent a lot of time around those of Mexican background, and the slang is different enough that I had to look some things up. I've read the same thought from others more familiar with it in CA and TX.

[Deborah]

But I have never encountered an anti-Hungarian prejudice in the US. Most white girls bringing home their Hungarian boyfriend would get less flack from their bigoted parents than if they brought home their Dominican boyfriend.

And while these same bigots might not differentiate between a Dominican, Puerto Rican or Cuban boyfriend there is a differentiation made in those households.

[William]

Yes, well you would largely have to be waaaay older than I suspect you of being to have encountered it, as you'd probably have to been at least 16 in 1918 to have first hand knowledge of the emigration quotas post-WWI.

And I'm agreeing with you in regards to your 2nd statement, but what I'm wondering is whether there's an additional positive pressure for Dominican unity in addition to the negative pressure for Dominican unity caused by the bigoted distinction you so rightly mention.

[Daniel]

I'm not sure that the issue of being Dominican is different from any of the other failed identities that taunt Oscar. This is a guy who just doesn't fit in on any level.

I'm also a bit hesitant to draw any conclusions in this respect because I don't have any Dominican friends or acquaintances to serve as a reference point. There's no way for me to know if this is the experience of Dominicans in general, or if it's just one author hyperbolizing a general concept (especially when he's so prone to hyperbole throughout). I'll take it with a grain of salt.

That said, our self-identity is indisputably forged based on our own social, political and geographic cosmology. We can't really have a good discussion on this book without bringing that up. I just wanted to note that I'm a little less inclined to make overly much of the point with only the novel as a guide.

[Casceil]

Will: I'm not sure what the scope of this week's thread is. When you said Part I, I assumed you meant the first four chapters, since part II is a couple of hundred pages in. But I notice no one seems to be discussing anything past Chapter I. Is "Wildwood" fair game at this point?

[William]

yes, the first four chapters are covered under Part One, Part two covers Chapters 5 and 6, and Part Three the final three chapters of the book. On Wednesday we'll add Part Two to the mix along with some side conversations and outside Diaz resources.

[Savanna]

Really liking the writing style so far (and the Silmarillion and LOTR references :P).

As far as the "friend zone" discussion, I think it's relatable to everyone—not just men. Unrequited love is part of youth, and it's particularly palpable for poor Oscar who's fat, of colour, lower class, and a giant nerd and therefore feels the stings of discrimination pretty strongly. Where gender does seem to come in is how not getting pussy further tarnishes his masculinity among even his friends.

As a middle class, non-immigrant, white person I'm not comfortable analyzing Dominican and Latin identities, but as Deborah suggested I think the importance of Oscar's Dominican identity comes from being sociologically located outside the status quo of whiteness (consider his treatment in university). Hungarians may well have been outside the status quo in 1918 (just as the Scots and Irish and Italians were into the 20th century) but they certainly aren't now. It's no longer just WASPs (white Anglo-Saxon Protestants) who embody whiteness. Dominicans, especially black Dominicans, however, do experience prejudice today in America, so I agree with Deborah that it makes sense for identity to be stronger among such an excluded community as Oscar's (which as the author points out is not just about race but about being "third world" and lower class).

Oscar feels alienated from his family and other Dominicans both in New Jersey and DR, but like Daniel's said this seems to be just one of many facets of his being a total misfit.

[Casceil]

What I found most interesting in Part I was the characters' relationships. The view we get of Lola's mother takes on new facets when you read about Beli's younger days.

[Sophia]

It does indeed.

[[deleted user]]

Oscar isn't just an outsider of the white majority, but also within his own community. He identifies as Dominican and when he meets students in college who are Dominican, they tell him that he's not. This, I believe, hurts Oscar the most because he is being denied his identity.