Hernan Díaz on “Trust” in Literature

ABSTRACT

Hernan Díaz, an Argentine-American writer, is the Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of two novels published in thirty-seven languages. He was born in Buenos Aires in 1973 and moved to Sweden with his family when he was two. He earned a BA in literature in the University of Buenos Aires, a MA degree at King’s College London, and received his PhD in comparative literature from New York University. His first novel, In the Distance (2017), was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. His second novel, Trust (2022), received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was a New York Times Bestseller, the winner of the Kirkus Prize, and longlisted for the Booker Prize, among other nominations. He is the recipient of the John Updike award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, given to “a writer whose contributions to American literature have demonstrated consistent excellence.” Díaz is also the author of Borges, between History and Eternity, whose essays and stories have appeared in The Paris Review, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Granta, The Yale Review, Playboy, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, and fellowships from the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, and The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center. This conversation took place in Shanghai, China, on May 12, 2024. It delves into the complexities of trust in literature, exploring the relationship between author and reader, translation and global readership, and the notion of American Dream. It also discusses the nature of narrative, the relationship between fiction and truth, the ethical considerations in fiction writing, as well as Díaz’s transnational experience and academic work.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Innovative Research Team of Shanghai International Studies University (2023TD005).

Notes on contributors

Lu Sun

Lu Sun (born on November 8, 1987) is a professor at the School of English Studies, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China. Her research area mainly covers American literature and American culture, especially the twenty-first century American novels. Her recent publications include two monographs and articles in Journal of Language, Literature and Culture, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, MELUS, Neohelicon, Journal of the West, among others.