interview with Junot Diaz, nice mention of Delany

Hi guys, I was reading this (well worth your time):

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/10/geeks-guide-junot-diaz/all/

There's a nice mention it in of Delany, and his influence on Diaz. Made me
laugh with the Shaolin Temple reference and all. --Z
*
*

*Wired:* Speaking of writers of color, I saw you say that one of your
ambitions was to be a Dominican Samuel R.
Delany<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_R._Delany>
 or Octavia E. Butler <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_E._Butler>.

*D=EDaz:* Did I actually say that? That=92s so deranged! I think that was o=
ne
of my younger ambitions. Sort of like when you used to have a dream about
going to Shaolin Temple <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaolin_Monastery>.
Me trying to be Octavia Butler or Samuel R. Delany really is like the
40-year-old guy wistfully thinking about how if only he had run away when
he was 14 and gone on a tramp steamer off to Hong Kong, and from there
slipped across the border into the new territories and gone up to Shaolin
Temple and practiced his wushu<http://en.wikipedia.org/Chinese_martial_arts=
>,
my god, if only I=92d done that I=92d be already the absolute master killer=
.
Let me tell you something, that tramp steamer has sailed and gone, my
friend. I=92ll be lucky if I can write another two books before I=92m in th=
e
grave.

These writers are absolutely remarkable and important. The depth of their
metaphors =97 you know, when you think about what science fiction does best=
,
whether we=92re talking about
Suvin=92s<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suvin,_Darko> idea
of the novum <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novum>, or all the different
ways that people approach the central force of science fiction, these
metaphors that allow us to address sectors or areas of our reality that
aren=92t being addressed, that aren=92t being openly discussed, that are
cloaked in silence or taboo. I look at both of them and I think that they
have done wonderful jobs of exploring our realities, and exploring our
anxieties, and dreaming of futures in a way that allow us to better see our
present. They=92re absolutely indispensable, and they=92ve certainly given =
me a
vocabulary of ways to think about my present and my future as a person of
African diasporic descent, and just as a person living in the U.S. I said
that I=92m working on a book right now that=92s an apocalyptic, giant-monst=
er,
zombie-virus invasion story that might not ever come together, but if
there=92s anything that=92s useful and good about that, I certainly would l=
ove
to put that at the feet of these two writers.


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