Abelard Reference & someone's translations

For some further understanding into the novel's major themes, we might consider the origins of the fuku, and therefore, the story of Abelard de Leon.

Abelard de Leon's character has some eerie connections to Peter Abelard or Abelard and Heloise fame. "In his "Historia Calamitatum," Abelard wrote: "Often the hearts of men and women are stirred, as likewise they are soothed in their sorrows more by example than by words. And therefore... am I now minded to write of the sufferings which have sprung out of my misfortunes..."

I stumbled upon this -- one diligent reader's annotations -- tonight while prepping for our last meeting. This is not by any means all authoritative (I noticed a few mistakes/confusions), but a good site that has some Spanish phrase translations and allusions defined.

Also, we've discussed notions of the immigrant's split identity between their old world and their new. Student-scholar Max Abrams has some very intelligent things to say on this them, including what follows:

The narrative is disjointed, full of events with many interpretations, sometimes using language very few readers will understand. This creates a new reality, aware of itself as a result of history.

Oscar Wao is also the story of Trujillo’s dictatorship in the Dominican Republic and the atrocities he committed. Diaz internalizes the mayhem done to the Dominican people so that he can joke and play with the facts. This creates a natural narrative that reflects the dialect and discussions of the time, while still educating the reader on the history of Trujillo. The fragmented history lesson, which is full of more hearsay than historical dates, better reflects the tragedy than past immigrant narratives. While many immigrant authors have adopted the dominant discourse of the official culture, which insists on a value judgment of language and information, Diaz brings all the references and stories he can to create a collage that more accurately reflects the modern multicultural world. This is no longer the self-contained, hierarchical pure first world narrative, but a new mixed up, disjointed, aesthetic.