Ambiguous Seductions: Doppelgängers, Suciogenesis, and the Mask of Tíguerismo in Junot Díaz's "Drown" and "Miss Lora". (31st October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Masiki, Trent
• Is Part Of: MELUS. Volume 43:Number 4(2018)
• Page Start: 194
• Page End: 216
• Publication Date: 2018-10-31
• Subjects: United States -- Literatures -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; United States; Criticism, interpretation, etc; Literatures; Periodicals; 810
• DOI: 10.1093/melus/mly040
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0163-755X

Abstract

Abstract: In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007), Junot Díaz introduces a new Caribbean trope to US literature and culture— fukú americanus . Fukú americanus is a metaphor for the rape of the New World, white supremacy, and the public silence that continues to sustain and perpetuate these traumatizing realities. This article examines the relationship between fukú americanus, tíguerismo, sexual trauma, and Diaz's use of female doppelgängers in "Drown" and "Miss Lora." It reveals that Díaz intends "Drown" to be read as Yunior's initial rape trauma and that "Miss Lora" is a doppelgänger revision of "Drown." Furthermore, the article demonstrates that the neuroscientific turn informs the sociobiological allusions in "Miss Lora" while the "cougar" motif informs the story's "great silence" around male sexual trauma.