Boy, oh boy: our man Oscar loves to read and write just about as much as Yunior loves to have sex. Although the characters in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao don't say a ton about writing, it's an undeniably strong presence in the text. First, the narrator, Yunior, points out the connection between dictators and writers: both control closed environments with an iron fist. Dictators control every aspect of a country, and novelists control every aspect of a literary work. Second, you know how Trujillo puts a major curse on Oscar's family? Well, how does Yunior attempt to protect himself from this curse, exactly? By writing a novel. By writing Wao. Wao is Yunior's verison of a counterspell, meaning that writing might even be imbued with some supernatural powers in the book.
Questions About Literature and Writing
- What are some other similarities between dictators and writers? Are there any similarities between dictators and narrators? Is Yunior a dictator-type?
- Do you think Wao celebrates the facts of history, or the fictions of the novel? What do you think the book's relationship is to factual truth?
- How can writing be a zafa or a counterspell? Do you really think that Yunior can protect himself against Trujillo's fukú by writing a novel?
- What kind of literature does Wao celebrate? Why? What do all the of the book's references have to do with being Dominican-American?