Gossip time: Junot, I'm remembering that New Yorker party where we met for the first time and we both remarked that we looked far more like the food service workers than the other writers. The writing world has diversified since, especially in the last few years, but the writer bios have largely remained the same. The same MFAs, the same fellowships, the same awards. I don't think the literary power structure has changed much. The only thing that's changed is that more brown and black folks have some power. This means a lot of great writers are getting chances they wouldn't have had otherwise. But it also means that the nepotism has also diversified. I do have high hopes that a new wave of risky writing is on the way.
Thanks for sharing with us the nuance of your answer and letting us hang in the ambiguity. There's a lot to think about here, but agree one should simply WRITE if the ideas and curiosity are there before them. I remember seeing you on a panel in Hong Kong and somebody was giving you grief about writing from the female perspective. Whether it's 'right' or 'wrong' (I tend to think it's right), I really liked your answer which, at the time, was that you really didn't know how authentic it was necessarily but that part of the writing process is imagining ourselves as others and finding connections and empathy in all humanity. It's such a great perspective.
"How often we worry pre-emptively about what might go wrong—how often we focus on proleptic negatives when we consider something that clearly matters to us." Guilty as charged. One of my favorite forms of procrastination, too.
"Therefore, shouldn’t you first write the book before lining up proleptic objections? Might it not be wiser, in other words, to let the book precede the verdict?" Totally agree with this, and I think you hit the nail on the head. Swear I'm not trying to be corny and promote my own shit on your page, but I just wrote about a lot of these issues in my most recent post. I felt a lot of these same pressures as a POC writer working on my debut and basically came around to the same conclusion after years of worrying about it: Focus on the writing first, and let the chips fall where they may. Thanks for this, Junot.
The answer is for the writer to discover, by solving the dilemmas every step of the way while they are writing the text: is this a stereotype, is this authentic personal experience, is this deep human nature, is this...?
I'm pretty sure Flaubert didn't have the right to write about a woman cheating on her husband out of existential boredom, and Nabokov didn't have the right to take a pedophile and make him look like an okayish hero of a novel. The daunting doubts may still linger, though: are we going to write the next Lolita, or Madame Bovary?
Wasn’t sure where best to post this query, so hope this ok.
I’m working on a piece in third person where characters (including protagonist from whose point of view the story is told) switch in and out of dialects and code-switch.
The following might sound like an odd, but I’m having difficulty knowing what to do with the narrative voice or more specifically being comfortable with the narrative voice being different from the voice used in dialogue.
As the dialects flip in and out in response to situational changes, it seems instinctive that the narrative voice should stay the same to create a tonal cohesion throughout the piece, however when I read the work through I’m not so sure.
So I’m not sure if this just a ‘me’ issue in terms being comfortable with what feels like a disconnect or whether I should be looking more into for example, picking one of the dialects and deciding which of them is the ‘main’ dialect and trying to make the narrative voice more closely align with this.
Hope this is clear but if you’d like any clarification, please let me know.
Your thoughts and guidance, would be gratefully received.
thank you for your kind question and sorry for any delay.
im wondering sherie if it would help to imagine your third person as a character - the way that my third person in OSCAR WAO is Yunior with Yunior's idiosyncrasies. you never have to reveal this character but by having it clear in your head you might reduce the voice-shifting.
once you got that character clear im wondering if it would also help to decide your point of telling - this could anchor that third person voice more firmly in your imaginary by anchoring them in a time and place.
Interesting discussion and so is the reading. Perhaps this work was in response to a very narrowly constructed question? My objection to the reading is that the particular stereotypes he describes are not solely Latin stereotypes, but his treatment and word choices, would seem that only Latinos experience stereotyping sufficient to be commented on. He apparently does not see value in considering the Latino/a experience as part of an overall stereotypical treatment inherent to Hollywood. Rather than expanding his analysis to actually discuss how those he refers to as "others," for example Valentino and "The Sheik," have been similarly stereotyped, thereby showing the breadth and depth of the racist depictions, he just passes those by as if these were not an essential aspect of what Hollywood is, and how Hollywood depicts all non-WASP characters. I think he does a disservice to his concerns by not making that connection.
the focus is beyond narrow and as you point out the chapter doesn't explore how often latine stereotypes are entangled with orientalist fantasies and other oppressive hegemonic discourses. to deepen the bench i will add to our readings Reel Latinxs: Representation in U.S. Film and TV by Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher González and Latin Looks--Images of Latinas and Latinos in the U.S. Media," by Clara E. Rodríguez and Latino TV A History by Mary Beltrán
Gossip time: Junot, I'm remembering that New Yorker party where we met for the first time and we both remarked that we looked far more like the food service workers than the other writers. The writing world has diversified since, especially in the last few years, but the writer bios have largely remained the same. The same MFAs, the same fellowships, the same awards. I don't think the literary power structure has changed much. The only thing that's changed is that more brown and black folks have some power. This means a lot of great writers are getting chances they wouldn't have had otherwise. But it also means that the nepotism has also diversified. I do have high hopes that a new wave of risky writing is on the way.
sherman you aint telling no lies. the publishing industry loves its private school writers.
Thanks for sharing with us the nuance of your answer and letting us hang in the ambiguity. There's a lot to think about here, but agree one should simply WRITE if the ideas and curiosity are there before them. I remember seeing you on a panel in Hong Kong and somebody was giving you grief about writing from the female perspective. Whether it's 'right' or 'wrong' (I tend to think it's right), I really liked your answer which, at the time, was that you really didn't know how authentic it was necessarily but that part of the writing process is imagining ourselves as others and finding connections and empathy in all humanity. It's such a great perspective.
Dear Prof. Diaz
Really glad I found this post - so helpful and the timing couldn’t have been better. Back to writing and playing!
glad it could be of any help.
"How often we worry pre-emptively about what might go wrong—how often we focus on proleptic negatives when we consider something that clearly matters to us." Guilty as charged. One of my favorite forms of procrastination, too.
"Therefore, shouldn’t you first write the book before lining up proleptic objections? Might it not be wiser, in other words, to let the book precede the verdict?" Totally agree with this, and I think you hit the nail on the head. Swear I'm not trying to be corny and promote my own shit on your page, but I just wrote about a lot of these issues in my most recent post. I felt a lot of these same pressures as a POC writer working on my debut and basically came around to the same conclusion after years of worrying about it: Focus on the writing first, and let the chips fall where they may. Thanks for this, Junot.
This is one of the many cases where someone speaks the truth and helps us to find solutions by admitting they don’t have the answers.
Thank you @Junot Díaz
The answer is for the writer to discover, by solving the dilemmas every step of the way while they are writing the text: is this a stereotype, is this authentic personal experience, is this deep human nature, is this...?
I'm pretty sure Flaubert didn't have the right to write about a woman cheating on her husband out of existential boredom, and Nabokov didn't have the right to take a pedophile and make him look like an okayish hero of a novel. The daunting doubts may still linger, though: are we going to write the next Lolita, or Madame Bovary?
I love this. Exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you, Junot!
Dear Professor Diaz
Thank you for the swift response. These are really helpful ideas and so thank you very much!
Kind regards
S
Dear Professor Diaz
Wasn’t sure where best to post this query, so hope this ok.
I’m working on a piece in third person where characters (including protagonist from whose point of view the story is told) switch in and out of dialects and code-switch.
The following might sound like an odd, but I’m having difficulty knowing what to do with the narrative voice or more specifically being comfortable with the narrative voice being different from the voice used in dialogue.
As the dialects flip in and out in response to situational changes, it seems instinctive that the narrative voice should stay the same to create a tonal cohesion throughout the piece, however when I read the work through I’m not so sure.
So I’m not sure if this just a ‘me’ issue in terms being comfortable with what feels like a disconnect or whether I should be looking more into for example, picking one of the dialects and deciding which of them is the ‘main’ dialect and trying to make the narrative voice more closely align with this.
Hope this is clear but if you’d like any clarification, please let me know.
Your thoughts and guidance, would be gratefully received.
Thanks and regards
Sherie
thank you for your kind question and sorry for any delay.
im wondering sherie if it would help to imagine your third person as a character - the way that my third person in OSCAR WAO is Yunior with Yunior's idiosyncrasies. you never have to reveal this character but by having it clear in your head you might reduce the voice-shifting.
once you got that character clear im wondering if it would also help to decide your point of telling - this could anchor that third person voice more firmly in your imaginary by anchoring them in a time and place.
hope this helps!
j
Absolute fire. Thank you
Interesting discussion and so is the reading. Perhaps this work was in response to a very narrowly constructed question? My objection to the reading is that the particular stereotypes he describes are not solely Latin stereotypes, but his treatment and word choices, would seem that only Latinos experience stereotyping sufficient to be commented on. He apparently does not see value in considering the Latino/a experience as part of an overall stereotypical treatment inherent to Hollywood. Rather than expanding his analysis to actually discuss how those he refers to as "others," for example Valentino and "The Sheik," have been similarly stereotyped, thereby showing the breadth and depth of the racist depictions, he just passes those by as if these were not an essential aspect of what Hollywood is, and how Hollywood depicts all non-WASP characters. I think he does a disservice to his concerns by not making that connection.
the focus is beyond narrow and as you point out the chapter doesn't explore how often latine stereotypes are entangled with orientalist fantasies and other oppressive hegemonic discourses. to deepen the bench i will add to our readings Reel Latinxs: Representation in U.S. Film and TV by Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher González and Latin Looks--Images of Latinas and Latinos in the U.S. Media," by Clara E. Rodríguez and Latino TV A History by Mary Beltrán
¡Wepa!