Bilingualism in Salinger and Diaz

Probably the most definitive characteristic of Junot Diaz's writing is the combination of English and Spanish which he uses.  It helps set the scene for his work, and the culture in which it takes place.  I remembered that another author used phrases in another language in their writing: Salinger, in "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period."  However, the mix of languages is very different in Salinger.

In Drown, Diaz launches us into a bilingual world right away.  As I said before, this helps solidify the setting, and cultural background in the story.  One way he achieves this is by not italicizing the Spanish words, which keeps them from popping out of the texture.  In addition, he adds enough context around the word to allow the reader to infer the meaning in many cases.  Lastly, he uses many of the Spanish words repeatedly, and refrains from using their English counterparts.  This creates a mix between the two languages, and flows very well.  It is a bit like Diaz invites us to his characters' world, to make us better understand their stories.  I think Diaz uses the mix of languages for these reasons--to solidify the setting, and to help us indentify us with the characters.

In "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period," Salinger writes the story through the point of view of a young artist, John Smith.  He is definitely narcissistic, as evidenced by his painting of seventeen self  portraits.  He also considers himself to be high-class and sophisticated.  He continually makes up stories, and some people in class called him a pathological liar, a diagnosis of which I do not disapprove.  He grew up in the United States and Paris, where he started his career, and learned French.  He applies to work at a correspondent school for art in Montreal, and concocts a story about knowing Picasso and being related to Honore Daumier.  He accepts the position, and moves there for the summer.  However, whenever he wants to distance himself from a "lower-class" person he uses French.  This is well-summed up in the following scene, an altercation with a man on the bus:

   
      "All right, buddy," he said, "let's move that ass." It was the "buddy," I think, that did it. Without even bothering to bend over a little--that is, to keep the conversation at least as private, as de bon gout, as he'd kept it--I informed him, in French, that he was a rude, stupid, overbearing imbecile, and that he'd never know how much I detested him. Then, rather elated, I stepped to the rear of the vehicle.

In this excerpt, Salinger's character speaks in French, and also denounces the people who are not in his social rank by using the French language.

In these ways, these two authors use a combination with English in very different ways.  In Diaz, we are welcomed into the story, and in Salinger, the languages are meant to divide between classes.  

References in Lorrie Moore

     One thing that I noticed about Lorrie Moore's writing (aside from the different narrative styles), was the great number of cultural references in her stories, and their signification in context of the story.  In class, we talked about the copy of Madame Bovary in the Doris Day biography jacket and how it mirrors the the plot in "How to Be an Other Woman."  Often times they are used to emphasize a point, or to emphasize the setting.  The two stories this features most prominently in are "How to Talk to You Mother (Notes)" and "Amahl and the Night Visitors: a Guide to the Tenor of Love."

     In "How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes)," Moore intersperses events in the narrator's life with historical events.  Some of them are used to tell parallel stories, such as the development of cardiac surgery.  This is very important to the story, given that the narrator's father had died due to complications from a heart attack.  Other than this there are many references to historical events, like "The Bicentennial" (85), "Nixon wins by a landslide" (89), or "Mankind leaps upon the moon" (90).  Often the references seem irrelevant, but sometimes there is a slight connection.  The last time the narrator talks of a romantic relationship is in the same year Carter lost to Reagan, and the narrator "distributed donuts and brochures for Carter" (85).  But, in 1945, the narrator's brother becomes distant, and the narrator mentions the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.  However, these references help to solidify the time period presented in the story, and the passage of time.

     In "Amahl and the Night Visitors,"  the narrator's boyfriend, Moss, often alludes to operas when he talks with her.  The references also serve to differentiate the narrator from Moss and his friends.  At the dinner party, the singers mock and deride Amahl and the Night Visitors, when the narrator appears to like it.  The narrator says, "She uses words like verismo, messa di voce, Montserrat Caballe" (103).  These are all terms related to opera and singing.  (Montserrat Caballe is an opera singer).  The narrator is not familiar with these terms, and feels out of place.  Then, the narrator says, "to me, La Boheme's just a lot of scarves" (104).  This further divides the groups.   One more subtle detail is the repeated mention of Dionne Warwick songs on the part of the narrator.  Dionne Warwick was a popular singer, not classical.  This shows the use of references to divide the narrator and her boyfriend.

   In these stories, we see Lorrie Moore uses references for many different purposes, with the main ones being to separate characters, or to cement the setting.  This is one very interesting feature of her work--the carefully chosen references to enhance the stories.