Los imaginarios apocalípticos y la condición póstuma en la obra de Junot Díaz

Abstract

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Filología, leída el 10/07/2024

The following dissertation, titled “Apocalyptic Imaginaries and the Posthumous Condition in the work of Junot Díaz”, constitutes an investigation into the symbolism of the End of the World present in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) and the hermeneutical consequences that it offers for the text. Our reading of Oscar Wao analyzes the intertextual links between the novel and the fundamental apocalyptic science fiction works that hold its structure, such as Dune (1965,Frank Herbert), Zardoz (1974, John Boorman), and Watchmen (1986-1987, Michael Moore and David Gibbons). At first, we privilege an intradiegetic approach, concerned with the narrative inconsistencies and the multiple questions raised by a close reading of the novel. After that, we argue that the symbolism deployed throughout its pages lends itself to be read as a parable of the return of white supremacism in the 21st century. This threat, much more recognizable in the present than when the text was published, will be considered as the fundamental specter inhabiting the novel, metaphorized through a bunch of apocalyptic tropes, in a reading that seeks to bring Díaz's text closer with other contemporary Caribbean authors...