Breaking The Silence: Effects of the dictatorship on Chilean society: An Analysis of Four Works of Chilean Literature: La Muerte y La Doncella by Ariel Dorfman, Estrella Distante, and Nocturno de Chile by Roberto Bolaño, and Por favor, Rebobinar by Alberto Fuguet

Abstract

Chile can be seen as having a past that is unfinished, deeply troubling, and in need of being addressed collectively. Torture, disappearance, censorship and rebellion have constituted the lives of Chileans for many years due to the effects of a bloody coup d'etat led by General Pinochet and backed by the armed forces, which overthrew the then democratically elected Socialist Government, led by Salvador Allende in 1973. Chile’s sudden outbreak of violence, a nation hitherto known for its political tolerance, shocked its citizens. As hundreds of ordinary Chileans vanished without a trace throughout Pinochet’s dictatorial regime, it was not surprising that Chilean society soon succumbed to a culture of fear. This period of dictatorial rule has subsequently impacted severely on Chilean society and its citizens.

Democracy was finally achieved after seventeen years of authoritarian rule, but the Chilean transition to democracy from 1990 onwards has been fraught with difficulties. As Chile has undergone social and political change, so too have the content and perspective of Chilean literature. Literature provides an important avenue for influencing readers and promoting social change. This research analyses the effects of the dictatorship on the different factions of Chilean society and is portrayed through four novels, La Muerte y La Doncella by Ariel Dorfman, Estrella Distante, and Nocturno de Chile by Roberto Bolaño, and Por favor, Rebobinar by Alberto Fuguet. They focus on the interrelationship between political, art and national identity.

This research argues how the Pinochet dictatorship has shaped Chilean society, primarily the effect it has had and still has today on the Chilean people. It shows how problematic it is for Chileans to come to terms with what has been done to them when there are not the right avenues available to them. It is also a condemnation of silence, not only to the conservative rightists, but also to the entire intellectual scene dominated by fear and self-censorship, and it shows how important memory is to quell the collective struggle against truth and non-remembrance. This research ultimately emphasizes how the Pinochet regime is at the essence of all four of these novels and how so many lives have been affected by an authoritarian regime that lasted nearly two decades. Chile can be seen as a country that is afraid and simultaneously needful of understanding its fear and its scars, not only about the long-term effects of torture and violence on human beings, but how as a nation they can move forward and accept their past.