2009 Reading Project

Letter from President Scott Cowen

June 1, 2009

Dear Members of the Class of 2013/14,

As president of Tulane University, I am happy to extend an enthusiastic welcome to the class of 2013/14. At Tulane, the opportunities to learn and to engage with the world around you will not be restricted to the classroom. Each year we ask the entering class to read a literary work to frame their first year experience; we call it the Tulane Reading Project.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz, is one of the most heralded works of fiction of the last decade. This richly textured novel tells the story of an awkward teenager born in the Dominican Republic but raised in New Jersey. Struggling to fit into two cultures, Oscar is outcast from both, but finds solace and surprising strength in the realms of sci-fi and fantasy. In street-smart Spanglish, the author brilliantly depicts life in our modern, multicultural world—funny, tragic, vulgar, messy, beautiful.

Free copies of the book will be distributed to all students at the June orientation sessions. We will mail the book to those of you who are unable to visit campus in June.

This fall, we will offer a series of events exploring The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and the themes that it addresses. We especially look forward to welcoming author Junot Díaz to campus for a lecture on Monday, August 31. Be sure to check the Events and Activities page for the complete schedule of events. You may also check the Materials and Resources page for additional materials pertinent to the book, such as guidelines for discussion and other web-based resources.

I hope that you will enjoy reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao before you arrive on campus. The Tulane community looks forward to meeting each of you in August and engaging with you in your first intellectual experience as Tulane students. Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Sincerely,