Dominican Republic: Drown (Junot Díaz)

Junot Díaz (b. 1968) is a Dominican writer and professor. His family immigrated to the USA when he was a child. After studying at Rutgers (BA) and Cornell (MFA), Díaz published this collection in 1995. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Critics Circle Award, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and as well as MacArthur and American Academy Rome Fellowships. He currently serves as a creative writing professor at MIT and fiction editor at the Boston Review. 

Background: Before the arrival of the Spaniards (Christopher Columbus in this case) in 1492, Hispaniola (the island which the Dominican Republic and Haiti share) was inhabited by Arawkan-speaking Taínos. When the Europeans came, relation were initially friendly, although smallpox and other diseases significantly reduced the native population shortly after. This resulted in almost total destruction of Taíno culture, as the small population intermarried with the Europeans. After gold was discovered, the island became a mining center, in which the Amerindian natives were forced to work. In 1501, African slaves began to be imported. The French invaded as well in 17th century, eventually gaining territory there. In 1655, the English also attempted to attack, but were soon defeated between the heat, insects, and Spanish soldiers. In 1700, the Spanish crown increased trade from the island, but by war in Europe eventually required the Spanish to cede their side to France in 1795. Toussaint Louverture, the French representative, committed many atrocities upon his arrival. Eventually the Haitians rebelled, defeating the French and the English, returning the island to the Spanish. After the Spanish started acting terribly again, the colony declared itself independent in 1821...which lasted two months. At this point, the Haitians took over, imposing high taxes, redistributing land, and generally wrecking havoc. Society more or less collapsed. In 1838, Juan Pablo Duarte founded a secret society (La Trinitaria) to help get independence. They rose up during a Haitian rebellion in 1843, and after some violence, declared independence in 1844, with their first Constitution. The following decades saw much difficulty, as economic struggle, warring factions, and unstable government all had their moments. After yet another (failed) Haitian invasion, the area returned to Spanish colonial rule from 1861-1865, until the end of the War of Restoration. Again, although independent, the Dominicans struggled with debt, military rule, and so on. Relative stability came by the 1880s as two of the primary destabilizers died. From 1902, debt skyrocketed and short governments became the norm again. Civil war, assassinations, U.S. occupation reigned until Rafael Trujillo took over from 1930-61, during which infrastructure improved, as murder, torture and repression were used against all opponents, and eventually a massacred of the Haitians. After his assassination, there was more civil war, with another dictator in charge (Balaguer), who was president multiple times, into the 1990s. The last few decades have seen slightly more leftish politics, as corruption, crime, and other difficulties have increased. 

Drown is Díaz's first short story collection. Semi-autobiographical, the stories follow (or tacitly follow?) the same narrator, Ramon de las Casas (a.k.a. Yunior), whose early life closely aligns with that of Díaz. Father abandons wife and children for years in America, eventually goes back to the Dominican Republic, brings them with him to New Jersey, conflict. Yunior tells stories mostly of the US, but occasionally of his old life, the experience of immigration, of his relationship with his father, abuse, sexual awakening. Some stories are hard to read, but the language and writing style pulls you in deep as the lie of the American Dream is laid totally bare. Yunior is sensitive, perceptive, you enjoy seeing things from his perspective. Even if you cannot sympathize with his experience, it is impossible not to empathize with what he describes, the awkwardness of growing up. I loved this book and look forward to reading Díaz's other works (which continue with the same character).