JosÉ David SaldÍvar is Leon Sloss Jr. Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at Stanford University. He is the author or coeditor of many books, including Junot DÍaz and the Decolonial Imagination and Trans-Americanity: Subaltern Modernities, Global Coloniality, and the Cultures of Greater Mexico, both also published by Duke University Press.

"This is an engaging, important contribution to understanding of Junot DÍaz’s work and life. Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers." - A. A. Edwards (Choice) "Junot DÍaz is a good introduction to the Diaz oeuvre, while at the same time, a must-read for an intermediate reader of Junot DÍaz’s work." - Gustavo Gutierrez Hernandez (Kritikon Litterarum) "Junot DÍaz: On the Half-Life of Love offers a compelling critical examination of DÍaz’s fiction and his distinctive place in the development of Latinx literature in the United States. It represents an indispensable and insightful guide to the emergence of DÍaz’s decolonial aesthetic for scholars and students interested in the study of contemporary Latinx fiction. SaldÍvar’s absorbing and thorough interpretation of DÍaz’s fiction and literary career demonstrates that DÍaz’s work matters, perhaps more than ever, as the legacy of colonialism and other systems of control continue to influence the trajectories and fiction of Latinx authors." - Jose O. Fernandez (New West Indian Guide)

• Preface  xiAcknowledgments  xixIntroduction  11. “Wrestling with J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings”: How Junot DÍaz Thinks About Coloniality, Power, and the Speculative Genres  27Part I. Junot DÍaz’s MFA Program Era at Cornell University and Beyond2. DÍaz’s Planet MFA: “Negocios”  473. DÍaz’s Planet POC (People of Color): Drown  73Part II. Understanding Imaginary Transference and the Colonial Difference4. Becoming Oscar “Oscar Wao”  99Part III. A Legacy In-formation5. Junot DÍaz’s Search for Decolonial Love  151Conclusion and Coda: “Monstro” and Islandborn  179Notes  191Bibliography  225Index  239

JosÉ David SaldÍvar is Leon Sloss Jr. Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at Stanford University. He is the author or coeditor of many books, including Junot DÍaz and the Decolonial Imagination and Trans-Americanity: Subaltern Modernities, Global Coloniality, and the Cultures of Greater Mexico, both also published by Duke University Press.

"This is an engaging, important contribution to understanding of Junot DÍaz’s work and life. Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers." - A. A. Edwards (Choice) "Junot DÍaz is a good introduction to the Diaz oeuvre, while at the same time, a must-read for an intermediate reader of Junot DÍaz’s work." - Gustavo Gutierrez Hernandez (Kritikon Litterarum) "Junot DÍaz: On the Half-Life of Love offers a compelling critical examination of DÍaz’s fiction and his distinctive place in the development of Latinx literature in the United States. It represents an indispensable and insightful guide to the emergence of DÍaz’s decolonial aesthetic for scholars and students interested in the study of contemporary Latinx fiction. SaldÍvar’s absorbing and thorough interpretation of DÍaz’s fiction and literary career demonstrates that DÍaz’s work matters, perhaps more than ever, as the legacy of colonialism and other systems of control continue to influence the trajectories and fiction of Latinx authors." - Jose O. Fernandez (New West Indian Guide)

• Preface  xiAcknowledgments  xixIntroduction  11. “Wrestling with J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings”: How Junot DÍaz Thinks About Coloniality, Power, and the Speculative Genres  27Part I. Junot DÍaz’s MFA Program Era at Cornell University and Beyond2. DÍaz’s Planet MFA: “Negocios”  473. DÍaz’s Planet POC (People of Color): Drown  73Part II. Understanding Imaginary Transference and the Colonial Difference4. Becoming Oscar “Oscar Wao”  99Part III. A Legacy In-formation5. Junot DÍaz’s Search for Decolonial Love  151Conclusion and Coda: “Monstro” and Islandborn  179Notes  191Bibliography  225Index  239