Audience members watched as author Junot Diaz, a timid-looking Dominican man wearing thick black rimmed glasses, quietly stepped up to the podium yesterday in Foster Auditorium.

Then came the surprise. Boasting an inner city New Jersey accent and spouting more than enough profanities to back up his small frame, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Diaz swept up his audience in a whirlwind of humorous short stories and successfully wrapped up the "Engaging Latina/o America" lecture series.

Diaz's reading, titled "Love in the War Years: A Reading," was taken from a collection of stories he authored, and touched on a variety of issues including sex, love, cheating, immigration and the Dominican Republic.

His lecture included two short stories and a question and answer session after each.

When asked to explain the morals of his stories, Diaz said that that his stories are amoral and that he considers his writing an art.

"I write the kinds of stories that boys tell when they are talking to only boys," Diaz said. "It tends to not have a point because art tends to be very different."

As for the controversial language and topics in his reading, Diaz said he is "drawing a perverse map" of the lives of immigrants, Dominicans, New Jersey residents and the poor.

"People will read a story if there is infidelity in it," Diaz said.

Diaz also spoke about the troubles he has encountered as a writer.

"It is always where you fail that you will find your most interesting material," Diaz said.

"You build your entire work on a serious of failures."

As for the accessibility of his writing to audiences, Diaz said that he tries to appeal to the younger generations and make them want to read.

"I never understood why you would drop Moby Dick on somebody. That's like a pro football player being like, 'Lemme tackle you,' " Diaz said.

Carla Saint-Preux (senior-telecommunications) said Diaz's reading was not exactly what she expected.

"He was urban, upbeat and fun," Saint-Pruex said. "He flowers his speech and the way he describes it, you can just picture it."

Nicole Sparling (graduate-comparative literature) said that she liked how Diaz makes his works accessible to the community that he is writing about.

"It is a provocative look at masculinity and I thought the talk was engaging. He recognized the audience and targeted his speech to them," Sparling said.

Diaz is the author of Drown and has appeared in The New Yorker, Best American Short Stories and African Voices.