Torture and Truth in Ariel Dorfman's La muerte y la doncella

Author(s): SOPHIA A. MCCLENNEN

Source: Revista Hispánica Moderna, Año 62, No. 2 (December 2009), pp. 179-195
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
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 Tortureand Truthin ArielDorfman's
y la doncella
La muerte

SOPHIA A. MCCLENNEN
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY

Chileansvoted to oust AugustoPinochetin 1988 and to elect Patricio

Aylwinin 1989,exiledwriterArielDorfmansuffereda strangefatewhenhis
personal life intertwined withhistoricaleventsand intellectualdevelopments.
These intersections revolvearound three,oftenoverlapping,social and critical
shifts.First,Dorfman'smove fromexile to diaspora,fromoutcastto global citi-
zen, occurredcontemporaneously to the fallof the BerlinWall (1989) and the
end of theCold War.Dorfman'sofficialexile ended simultaneously to theera of
globalization,causinghim to reassesshis relationshipto the nation-state at pre-
ciselythe timewhenscholarslikeFrancisFukuyamawereheralding"the end of
history"and Homi Bhabha was predictingthe end of the nation. Second, the
establishmentof truthcommissionsin Argentina(1983), Chile (1990), and
South Africa (1995) coupled with RigobertaMenchu's receipt of the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1992 and the opening of the U.S. Holocaust Museum in 1993
focused attentionon the relationshipbetween historicalmemory,trauma,
humanrights,andjustice.Third,withthe U.S. invasionof Iraq in 1991 simulcast
on CNN globally,the 1990s signaledwhatmightbe called the momentof high
postmodernism. Delvinginto questionsabout representation in a global society
thatappeared increasingly incapable of discerningtruth from fantasy, thiscriti-
cal turnis epitomizedbyworkslike FredricJameson'sPostmodernism or,TheCul-
turalLogicofLate Capitalism (1992) and Jean Baudrillard'sTheGulfWarDid Not
TakePlace (1995). Taken together,these threesocial and criticaldevelopments
coalesced into a seriesof questionsDorfmanwould ask about representingthe
local and the global,about the role of literaturein the representation of truth,
trauma,and memory,and about the challengesposed by a global media that
depictssuffering as spectacleand thattranslatesnewsintoinfotainment.
This is the contextwithinwhichDorfmanproduced his firstpost-exilework
and La muerte y la doncella(1990) representsa watershedmomentin Dorfman's
literarycareer fora numberof reasons.It is his mostinternationally successful
work,it is his firstworkafterthe end of Pinochet'sofficialrule,and it is his first
publishedplay.It is also an exampleof thewaythathis post-exilewritingbridges
the local and the global. On the one hand, it is a textthatgrowsout of a very
concrete,local event:theestablishment of theChilean truthcommission,known
as the RettigCommission,thatwould onlyinvestigate the crimesof the dictator-

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180 •* RevistaHispánicaModerna62.2 (2009)

ship thathad ended in deathor thepresumptionof death.1On the otherhand,

itspoketo a farbroaderglobalneed to askquestionsabout thewaysthatcommu-
nitiescan emergefroma stateof enormouspain and horror,especiallywhen it
has been the stateitselfthathas been responsibleforinflicting theseatrocities.
So, at the time of itswriting, it was alternately Dorfman's most local
specifically
and mostpurposefully universaltext.2
The descriptionof the settingforthe playemphasizesitslocal/globaldialec-
tic: "El tiempoes el presente;y el lugar,un país que es probablementeChile,
aunque puede tratarsede cualquier país que acaba de salirde una dictadura"
(14). As the descriptionmakesclear,the eventsmayparallelChile but theyalso
reflecta commonconditionsuffered bynationsrecoveringfromstate-sponsored
violence.Whatis of interestis the waythatthe settingof the playreassertsthe
nationalcontextof Chile whilealso speakingto a global audience. Arguablythe
most internationally significantplay by a Latin Americanwriter,it has been
staged in more than thirtycountriesand in 1993 therewere more than fifty
4
different productionsrunningat thesame timein Germanyalone.3 Bhila Blum,
in one example,studieshow La muerte y la doncellaplaysin Israel,how it mixes
the contextof Chile withthat of an Israeli audience in a way that leads the
audience to reflecton theirparticularsocial circumstances(156). It is worth
noting that the intersectionsbetween the national contextof Chile and the
global resonanceof the playdemonstratehow thisworkchallengesthose theo-
ries of globalizationthatsuggestedthatthe global meant a waningof the na-
tional.5In thiscase the specificallylocal is also globallyrelevant.
The playhas a deceptively simpleplotline beneathwhichlie layersupon layers
of questionsand dilemmas.La muerte y la doncellais set in a countrythathas
recentlyemerged from a long dictatorship. Paulina,a torturesurvivor, is married
to Gerardo,who hasjust agreed to serveon a truthcommissionthatwillinvesti-
gate the disappearancesthatresultedin death duringthe dictatorship.Experi-
encing car troubleon his wayto his house in the country,Gerardois aided by
Doctor Miranda.LaterwhenMirandastopsbythehouse, Paulina recognizeshis
voice and is sure that this man who has befriendedher husband raped and
torturedher while she was held in detention.She decides to make this man
confesssince her husband's truthcommissionwillignoreher needs forjustice.
Gerardo is stunnedand unsurewhetherto believe her. Miranda continuesto
professhis innocenceand Paulina has no wayto proveher story.If Paulina was
blindfoldedand neversaw her torturers, how will she ever be able to provide
proof of the identity of her torturer? The onlyevidenceshe has is the factthat
she recognizesMiranda'svoice,thatshe remembershisverbalticsand his smell,

1The wasestablishedin 1990.La muerte before

RettigCommission y la doncella
waswritten
itreleaseditsfinalreportin Marchof 1991.
2A numberofhis especiallyThe
subsequenttextswouldalso followin thesetwoextremes,
Nannyand theIceberg.
3FromDorfman'swebsite:
http://www.adorfman.duke.edu/.
4
Mayajaggiwritesthatfor"CarlosFuentes,whodeemedDeathandtheMaidenSophoclean
no otherplayin LatinAmericahas achieveditsuniversalreso-
in itspowerand simplicity,
nance" (n.p.).
5Fora
theorythattheglobalsignalsthedeclineof thenationalsee Bhabha.

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 MCCLENNEN,Torture and Truth •* 181

thathe used to playSchubert's"Death and theMaiden" forherbeforehe raped

her,and thatshe has founda tape of Schubert'squartetin his car.
For some it seems thatPaulina has incontrovertible evidence,but forothers,
it appears that Doctor Miranda is being treatedin exactlythe same way that
Paulina was treated.If Paulina uses the methodsof her torturers to exact a con-
fessionfromMiranda,then is she no better?Gerardoreluctantly acquiesces to
Paulina's plan to forceMirandato confess,but it is unclearifhe reallysupports
her since when he asks her to firsttell him her story,he ostensiblydoes so in
orderto provideMirandawithdetailsthathe can use to fabricatea confession.
AfterrecordingMiranda's confession,Gerardo goes to retrieveMiranda's car
withthe understandingthatPaulina and he will now set Miranda free.Mean-
while,withGerardo gone Paulina confrontsMiranda. She explains that she
made a fewerrorsin her account to Gerardoin order to see ifMirandawould
correctthem,whichhe did. She thentellshim thatshe is going to killhim.The
lightsgo down, a mirroris placed in frontof the audience, and Paulina and
Gerardoappear at a concertaccompaniedbyDoctor Miranda,who mayor may
not be a phantom.
Ambiguous,provocative,and drivenby questionsthathave no easy answers,
the playlends itselfto numerousavenuesof inquirythatrelateto the social role
of truthcommissions,to the representation of a nation in crisis,to storytelling
and human rights,and to themesof betrayal,trust,deceit, and redemption.
Dorfman'smost studied text,among the themescovered by scholarsare: vio-
lence and torture(Avelar),truth(Maree), politics(Gregory),trauma(Morello),
memory(Jofré; Valdés), Schubert(Schroeder),gender (Pinet), and stagingthe
play (Bhila; Morace). Manyof theseessaystakeup a clusterof thesethemesand
itis wellbeyondthe scope of myanalysishere to providean exhaustivesurveyof
this complex work.Consequently,the analysisthat followsattemptsto fillin
some of the gaps not thoroughlyaddressed by alreadyexistingstudieswhile
advancingthe thesisthatthe playcentersaround the problemsof usingartand
languageto seek the truthin the aftermath of tortureand betrayal.6
AsJamesDawes explainsin ThattheWorld MayKnow,fictionalizedaccountsof
human rightsviolationsoftenemphasizethe ethicaldilemmasinherentin such
projectsbyavoidingclosure,catharsis,and facilemoralizing(196). He explains
thatwriterswho produce fictionalhuman rightsstoriestend to drawattention
to the waysthat theirethical responsibility to tell the storyconflictswiththe
"absolute obscenityin the veryprojectof understanding"(Lanzmann qtd. in
Dawes, 195). As a resultsuch writersblend storytelling withpostmodernliterary
techniques,writing from a double-bind: there is an urgencyto tellthe storyeven
though the author knows thatthe storycan never be properlytold. This essay
argues that La muertey la doncella
is an example cultureemergingfromthis
of
type of double-bind.
6 none ofthesestudiesaskswhyDorfman'sfirst
Interestingly, projectwasa theat-
post-exile
ricalwork.While manystudiesof the playinquireabout the intertextuality betweenthe
playand Schubert'squartet,none askabouttheimportanceof DoctorMiranda'scitationof
Nietzscheand how thatreferencemightrelateto largerquestionsabout the role of artin
representing the truthin a timeof terror.Nor do theywonderabout theplay'sotherrefer-
encesto art,suchas theappearanceof Mozart's"DissonanceQuartet"in thethirdact.

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182 +• RevistaHispánicaModerna62.2 ( 2009)

First,let us beginwithwhatmaybe the mostimportantquestionto ask about

how thisworkfitsinto Dorfman'soverallliterary project:Whya play?And,why
does Dorfmanwritehis firstplayas his exile officially ends? In Dorfman'safter-
wordto theEnglishversionof the texthe explainsthathe had had thekernelof
La muerte y la doncellaon his mind forabout eightor nine yearsbut thatevery
timehe sat down to writewhathe imaginedwould be a novel he could not get
past the firstfewpages. Afterthe announcementof the RettigCommissionthe
storyresurfacedin his mind.He now had the rightcontext.To have the tension
he soughtitwould be placed duringa transitionto democracyand in orderfor
the husband to have a "tremendousstakein the outcome of thatkidnapping"
he had to be a "memberof a commissionsimilarto the one headed byRettig"
(145). The historicaleventstakingplace in Chile as PatricioAylwinbecame the
firstelected presidentto replace Pinochet,loaded as theywerewithextraordi-
narytension,helped Dorfmanrefinethe conflictsat the core of his story.But
the keyinformation Dorfmanrevealsin his afterword is thatonce theseevents
began to shape his storytheyneeded to takeformas a play:"it did not takeme
long to conclude that,ratherthana novel,whatneeded to be written wasa play"
(145).
It is worthremembering thatDorfman'sexile began bya similarshiftin genre.
Grievingforthe lossesof the coup, Dorfmanpublishedhis firstpoetry.Appear-
ing in printin 1979,Dorfman'sfirstpublishedcollectionof poems in Spanishis
entitledPruebasal Canto.Motivatedbyan urge to writeabout exile and the trau-
mas of the coup and dictatorship, Dorfman'sfirstpoetryused a formthatwas
simpleand intense,tenderand intimate,unlikethe complexbaroque language
of his firstnovel,Mowsen la costa(1970), a highlyfragmentedtextthatinvesti-
gated the connectionsbetweenart and revolution.ParallelingDorfman'sturn
to poetryin exile,he movesto theaterpost-exile.7 As evidencedbyhis thesison
Shakespeareand hisbook on thetheaterofHarold Pinter(El absurdoentre cuatro
paredes: deHaroldPinter)thatappeared in 1968,Dorfmanhas been inter-
El teatro
ested in the theaterthroughouthis literarycareer.But it is noteworthy thathe
did not choose to workin thisformduringthe exile years.Accordingto Dorf-
man he had been workingon a playin 1973 as partof his community-oriented
artisticprojectsduringtheAllendepresidency, butthecoup meantthathe never
completedthe play.Then, once in exile he losthis abilityto writetheatersince
he lacked an imaginedaudience. And even thoughhe had begun workingon
the theatricalversionof his novel Viudasbeforethe end of his exile,itwas only
when he could returnto Chile that he felthe could fullycommitto writing
theater.8
In his afterword to La muerte he makesit clear thathe conceived
y la doncella,
of the playas a formof public intervention and as a wayto symbolicallyend his

7Formoreon hisliterary trajectorysee McClennen,"ArielDorfman."

8Thisinformation comesfrompersonalcommunication withDorfman.The first
premiere
of Widows tookplace in 1991,ten daysafterthe Britishopeningof Deathand theMaidenin
London,and was the productof collaborationbetweenDorfmanand TonyKushner.Dorf-
manwasunhappywiththeplay,though,and continuedto reworkit.The theatrical adapta-
tionof Widows was firstpublishedin Englishin 1997.The Spanisheditionfrom1996 is an
earlierversion.

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 MCCLENNEN,Torture and Truth •* 183

exile. "No era justo que, después de tantosaños de ausencia y tantosaños lu-
chando por la democracia,estrenarala obra primeroen el extranjero.La Muerte
y la Doncellafueel regalode retornoque yo quise brindarlea la transición"(97).
The firstsentencein the above quotationdisplaysan interesting twistof subject
as Dorfmanmergeshis own experienceof exile,hisyearsof strugglefordemoc-
racyin Chile,and his desireto returnwiththatof the stagingof the play;clearly
theplayhad not been absentand had not struggledfordemocracy,ratheritwas
its authorwho had. The play,then,was not simplyDorfman'sgiftto Chile; it
also was a wayto publiclyacknowledgehis returnand his desireto be a partof
reconstruction. It is significant thatthisplayabout the silencesand absences of
the RettigCommissionwas writtenbyan exile who,like the thousandsof exiles
who had been forcedto fleeChile duringthe Pinochetyears,also sufferedfrom
thedictatorship butwhosetraumaswereeven less likelyto receiveofficialrecog-
nitionthan those of torturesurvivors like Paulina. That thiseffortto publicly
stage the inner turmoilof the nationwas the productof an exile explainsfor
Dorfmanits lack of successwhen it premieredin Chile (98) .9 The nation had
grownsuspiciousof exiles who were oftenportrayedas havingabandoned the
nation to enjoy the easy lifeabroad. Manyhad come to believe the myththat
exile had been a matterof choice and not a painfultragedy,a beliefthatlikely
hinderedthe play's receptionas well,and one thatironicallycomplicatesthe
pointof the play'sinvestigation of betrayaleven further, foritwas the same two
social sectorsthatrefusedto listento Paulina, the Pinochetsupportersand the
left-center membersof the transitiongovernment(some of whom were Dorf-
man's ownfriends),thatalso could not toleratewatchingthe play.10
WhileLa muerte y la doncella mayhavebeen a symbolicwayto end hisexile and
to performan act of public dialogue withChile, fraughtas such dialogue may
have been, thesewerenot Dorfman'sconsciousreasonsforchoosingto tellthis
storyin the formof his firstplay.Dorfmanexplainsthathe was convincedthat
the playwould servean importantpublic functionbecause it would allow the
nation to collectively addressthe contradictory and complicatedprocessof re-
covering from dictatorship: "I found the characters tryingto figureout the sort
of questionsthatso manyChileans were askingthemselvesprivately, but that
hardlyanyone seemed interested in in
posing public. [. . .] How do we keep the
past alivewithout its
becoming prisoner? How do we forget it without riskingits
repetition in the future?" (Resistance 146).
Trilogy
9Dorfmanstatesthatthe
playhad a mixedreceptionin Chile. It was successfulin free
showings, butreceivedverynegativereviewsand did notappeal to theChileantheatergoing
elite(97). IdelberAvelar,whocritiquesthefilmversion,writesthattheplay"wasa resound-
ingfailureamongthepublicthatithad attempted, secretlyand in bad faith,to translate
and
express,theChileanpopulation"(45). In contrast, RobertA. Moraceprovidesa moresubtle
critique,recognizingthatthe playmeantto "provoke,not please" and thatwhereit failed
waswiththe elites,notwithwhatAvelarcalls the "Chilean population."ChileancriticMa-
nuelJofrésaysthattheplayis "sin duda alguna,la obra de teatrochilenoy latinoamericano
que másha llegadoen la historialatinoamericana"(98).
101 do not mean to
suggestthatthe exilessuffered in the same waysas thosewho were
tortured, althoughmanywhosurvived torturedid latergo intoexilemakingthesetwogroups
overlapping. I simplywantto notethattheywereequallybeingignoredbytheofficial recon-
ciliationprocess.

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184 •»• RevistaHispánicaModerna62.2 (2009)

Of course,the theaterhad long been used in the SouthernCone to stagethe

conflictsof dictatorship.In Chile therewas an activegroup of playwrights and
artistswhowerededicatedto usingtheaterand performanceas a formofcritical
intervention in public consciousness,includingsuch figuresas Marco Antonio
de la Parra,David Benaventeand the theatercollectivesICTUS and TIT, and
Diamela Eltitand the Colectivode Acciones de Arte (Collectiveof ArtisticAc-
tions,CADA) . Manyof theseplaysand performancesservedto counterbalance
the censorship,self-censorship, and constantsense ofvigilanceunderwhichthe
Chilean publicwas forcedto live duringthe Pinochetyears.As Alice A. Nelson
notes,theseworksoftendepended on an indirectlanguagethatservedto estab-
lish an intimacybetweenthe actorsand the audience thereby"joining other
precariouslocal strugglesforrepresentationalpower takingplace in pockets
scatteredthroughoutpostcoupsociety"(90). Diana Taylor,in a studyof theater
duringthe military regimein Argentina,emphasizesthatthesetypesof regimes
commit"percepticide"because of the way theyblind and pervertthe public
gaze. Dailyviolenceis visibleand ubiquitous,a factthatleads thepublicto distort
theirwaysof looking: "Percepticideblinds,maims,kills throughthe senses"
(123).
In suchan environment anyeffort to publiclyattendto thetraumasofauthori-
tarianismis bound to be complex,difficult, and incomplete.HenryJamesMo-
rello describes this type of theater as "post-traumatic"since it bears the
symptomsof psychologicaldevastation.In analyzinga spectrumof post-trau-
maticplays,he situatesLa muerte y la doncellaon one end, as an example of one
of the leastfracturedand mostdirectefforts to publiclystagesocial damage,an
aestheticthatmayfurtheraccountforwhythe playwas not as well receivedby
the Chilean theatergoing y lopodrido,
public as De la Parra's Lo crudo,lo cocido, a
play thattranslatesa dictatorialatmosphereto the confinedspace of a restau-
rant.In contrastwithDe la Parra's highlymetaphoricalplay,Dorfman'scom-
mentedin verydirect,albeitcomplex,waysabout theprocessof transition much
in the same waythatGriseldaGámbaro's Información an Argen-
para extranjeros,
tineplaythathad verylimitedpublic acclaim,provideda rawrepresentation of
tortureand stateviolence.11 This pointis emphasizedbythe youngactor,Paula
Sharim,in a scene fromthe documentary, A Promise totheDead: TheExileJourney
ofArielDorfman. In a conversationwiththe actor who firstplayed Paulina in
Chile,MariaElena Duvauchelle,and withDorfman,SharimdescribesDorfman's
playas "stickinga fingerin a wound." Perhapsthe lack of local successforthe
playwas a consequence of itsrelativedirectnessand local specificity. In fact,as
Dawes explainsin relationto human rightsstorytelling, it is oftenironicallythe
case thatinternationally successfultextsthatrepresenthuman rightsviolations
are intolerableto thelocal audiencesthattheypurportedly 12
represent(182).
11Formoreon
publicreceptionofGambaro'splaysee Morelloand Taylor.
12 Schaffer and SidonieSmithnotea similarpatternin thecase ofSouthAfrican writer
Kay
AntjieKrog'sIn theCountry ofMySkull,whichhas been criticizedin SouthAfrica,but has
been the mostwidelyread textabout the SouthAfricantruthand reconciliationprocess
outsideof the country:"Some recoiledfromher profilingof theirpain; othersfailedto
recognizethemselvesthroughtheperceptions stillothersresentedwhatseemed
ofthewriter;
oftheirpain to herprojectofreconciliation"(78). Interestingly,
to themas an appropriation

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 Tortureand Truth •* 185
MCCLENNEN,

Despite the degree to whichplaysabout social traumaare well receivedby

theirlocal public,it is clear thattheirauthors,in choosingto place theirworks
in the genreof theater,intendedto use an artisticworkas a formof communal
intervention. Playsare the mostpublic formof literatureand theyrequireeven
in the mostalternativevenues collaborationand collectivereception,a factof
the genre thatmakes it well suited to address collectivecrises.Taylorexplains
thattheaterservesan importantpublicfunctionin momentsof politicalcontes-
tation:"Plays,performances,and theatricalspaces themselvesare verymuch
partof widersocial struggles.'Theater,'in itstraditionaluse as the sum totalof
the above,participatesin the shaping,transmitting, and at timeschallengingof
group fantasiesand desires.Therein lies the danger and the hope" (226-27).
Dorfman'sfirstplaystagedthe dangersof the transitionin the hope thatsuch a
representation would assistthe process.
As Chile began to transitionto democracy,askingas a nationdeep questions
about the possibility fordialogue and fora public accountingof the traumasof
the coup, Dorfmandecided to stage a play about three characterswho were
struggling to finda wayto speakto each otherand be heard.It is no coincidence,
forinstance,thatthe threecharactersalmostneverappear togetherin dialogue
on stage.In thosesceneswhereall threecharactersare visibleto the audience,
one characteris typicallyset apart listeningto the conversationbetween the
othertwo,an effectthathighlightsthe waysthatsegmentsof societywere mar-
ginalizedfromdebates about reconstruction.13 There are onlytwotimeswhen
all threecharactersspeak. The firsttime,in the firstscene of the second act,
MirandaaddressesGerardoand essentially refusesto speak to Paulina. He looks
at her and tellsher he has neverseen her beforein his life,but he knowsthat
she is sick.Then he appeals to Gerardo'ssense ofjustice to freehim.Afterthat
plea, while theyprepare to take him to the bathroom,Paulina forceshim to
speak to her,but their"dialogue" is limitedto his tellingher thathe can use the
toiletstanding.The second timetakesplace as Mirandais signinghisconfession.
In thisscene, thevoice of Mirandaechoes since we hear him speak and we also
hear hisvoice on the tape recorder.When Paulina triesto describeher feelings,
Gerardotellsher to be quiet. Even thoughall threecharacters'voicesare heard
in thisscene,itis clear thatthereis no dialogue betweenthem.AgainDorfman's
choice of genre is extremelysignificant. There is no bettergenre to emphasize
thedifficulties of dialogue thanthe theater.
Not onlyis the dialogue of La muerte y la doncellafracturedand thwarted, but
the actual wordsand phrasescharactersuse sufferrupturesin signification. As

Dorfman'soutsiderstatusas an exile and as a naturalizedChileancitizen(he was born in

Argentina)compareto Krog'sstatusas an Afrikaner committed to endingapartheid.
13In act one, scene twoPaulina
eavesdropson the conversationbetweenMirandaand
Gerardo.In scene fourof the same act,Mirandais gaggedand mustlistento Paulina and
laterto Paulinaand Gerardo.In thesecondact,shortly afterGerardoungagsMiranda,Pau-
lina and Gerardoleave Mirandaalone to talkprivatelyon the terrace.In thesecond scene,
Paulinawatchesthe men talkfromthe terrace.And in the firstscene of the thirdact,Mi-
randawatchesPaulinatellherstoryto Gerardoand thesceneshifts to Miranda'sconfession.
Laterin thesceneGerardoleaveswhilePaulinatalksto Miranda.In thesecondscenePaulina
is silentwhileGerardospeaksabout the successesof the commission.Then whenMiranda
appearstheyare all silent.

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186 ♦• RevistaHispánicaModerna62.2 (2009)

Chile moved to transition, Dorfmanquestionedwhetherthe massivelinguistic

abuse of the Pinochetyearscould be reconciled,whetherChile could conquer
whatMargueriteFeitlowitz describesin her analysisof the dictatorship in Argen-
tina as a "lexicon of terror."In thissense the playsuggeststhatnot onlywere
bodies physicallyabused duringthe dictatorship,but that the words used to
speakabout thisdamagewerehurtas well.Attentionto thislinguisticdevastation
is absolutelyessentialto anyprocessof reconciliation.This preoccupationwith
words links the play to other momentsof extraordinary social violence and
George Steiner'sthoughts about the Holocaust could easilybe applied to Chile:
"Use a language to conceive,organize,and justifyBelsen; use it to make out
specifications forgas ovens; use it to dehumanizeman duringtwelveyearsof
calculatedbestiality.Somethingwillhappen to it. [ . . . ] Somethingwillhappen
to thewords.Somethingof thelies and sadismwillsettleintothe marrowof the
language" (101). Dawes explainsthatat the heartof human rightsliteratureis
the "idea thatlanguage has been ruined,thatit mustbe rescued" (219). Dorf-
man framesthelinguisticquestionat thecenterof La muerte y la doncella
thisway:
"how do you reach the truthiflyinghas become a habit?" (146).
There are a numberof waysin whichthe playasks questionsabout the rela-
tionshipbetweenlanguage,truth,and reconciliation.The mostsalientmethods
Dorfmanuses to questiontherepresentational limitsoflanguageare repetitions,
linguisticslippageand wordplays,silences,lies,evasions,and forcedutterances.
In effectthe entireplayis organizedaround the expressionof words,manyof
whichdo not functionin a waythatcan meaningfully lead to dialogue,healing,
and human contact.This linguisticdisconnectis to be expected in exchanges
betweenMirandaand Paulina,but it is made even more tragicin thosebetween
Paulinaand Gerardo.The openingdialogueemphasizesthatwellbeforePaulina
recognizesMiranda,the relationshipshe has withGerardois terribly wounded.
When Gerardoentersthe house to findPaulina hiding,he addressesher with
words of affection - "m'hijita," "linda" "mi amor"- calling her his "gatita
amorosa" (16, 17). At the same timehe is visiblyangrywithher fornot fixing
the spare and forloaning out thejack. The use of these phrasesof affection
alongside his angrytone servesto deflatetheirmeaning,which preparesthe
audience to understandthatthe confrontation betweenthemis a ruse forthe
real conflict,the real conversationthat can not happen openly. Behind Ge-
rardo'sangerat herforlettinghimdown,a reasonabledisappointment, but one
whichis common to all relationships, is a deeper,more anguishedconflict.He
has agreed to serveon the commissionwithoutaskingher. Even worse,he lies
about his decision,makingit seem thathe won'tserveifshe does not agree.The
followingexchangeis an exampleofalmostall ofthewaysthatDorfmansuggests
thatthelanguagetheysharehas become radicallyruptured:

Gerardo:¿A ... ? Pero si no lo conozco. Es la primeravez en mi ...

Ademástodavíano dicidí [sic] si voya ....
Paulina:Ya decidiste.
Gerardo:Dije que le contestaríamañana,que me sentíaextraordina-
riamentehonradopero que necesitaba. . .
Paulina: ¿Alpresidente?

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 Tortureand Truth •* 187
MCCLENNEN,

Gerardo:Al presidente.Que lo teníaque pensar.

Paulina:No veo qué tienesque pensar.Ya lo decidiste,Gerardo,sabes
que lo decidiste,es para esto que llevasaños trabajando,por qué te
haces el que . . .
Gerardo:Porque primerotengo que ... tú tienesque decirmeque
sí.
Paulina: Entonces:sí.
Gerardo:No es el sí que necesito.
Paulina: Es el único que tengo.
Gerardo:Yo te he escuchado otros.(20)

These linesare filledwithellipsesthatmarkthe heavysilencesbetweenGerardo

and Paulina. Paulina's torturewas not limitedto theviolenceof the state.When
she soughtout Gerardoafterbeing releasedshe foundhim in bed withanother
woman,whichmade her unable to tellhim about her experience.And thenshe
never officiallydenounced her tortureand arrest.Not even her own mother
knows.She has keptsilentabout her experiences,onlyrevealingbitsto Gerardo.
Theyhaveinternalizedthatsilencebehinda rhetoricofdeceptionand thestruc-
tureoftheirexchangerevealstheinfluenceofHarold Pinter'sstark,semi-absurd
use oflanguageon Dorfman'sstyle.14 Layersofbetrayaland yearsof silencehave
seeped into the wordsthey share,frustrating of communication.
the possibility
Dorfmanemphasizesthispointbymakingthe charactersrepeat each other's
wordson multipleoccasions. In this exchange theyrepeat formsof the verb
"decidir" and "pensar". Whatis mostpainfulabout thewaysthesewordsrepeat
is the factthatGerardosuggeststhathis thinkingand decidingare contingent
on Paulina's thoughtsand decisions.That of course is a lie, because he has
alreadydecided. Whatis contingenton Paulina is whethershe willbe emotion-
allystableenough forhim.That is whyhe forcesher to say"sí," a "sí" thatcan
onlybe utteredunder duress,a "si" thatdoes not satisfy Gerardo.And whenhe
mentionsthat he has heard other formsof "si," ones that are intimateand
sexual,Gerardoattemptsto elicitnot onlythewords,but thefeelingsbehindthe
wordsthatwillvalidatehis decision to listento the storiesof all of the victims
exceptthosewho sufferedlike Paulina. Later,though,as the scene climaxesthe
wordstake a turn.They begin to signify more meaningfully. Gerardo tellsher
thatthe commissionwillbe limitedto hearingthe cases thatare "irreparable"
(21). But beforehe can do thathe warmlyasks her to tell him her story,while
he holds her. At thispoint Paulina connectsaffectionately withhim and gives
him the "si" thathe had been hoping to hear,thatsignalsthattheywilldo this
together(21). This connectiondoes not last,though,and the end of the scene
oscillatesbetweendamaged languageand thelanguageofhealing.AfterPaulina
and Gerardoenjoya briefmomentof intensecollaboration,Paulina asks ifthe
criminalswillbe punished.As she realizesthattheworkof the commissionwill
14See betweenDorfmanand Pinter.
StephenGregoryforan analysisof theintersections
Dorfmanhas said thathe would neverhave writtenLa muertey la doncellaifit weren'tfor
withMcClennen).The Britishpremiereoftheplayincludedan opening
Pinter(see interview
sketchbyPinterentitled"New WorldOrder" signalingthe Britishplaywright's supportof
theproject.

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188 +• RevistaHispánicaModerna62.2 (2009)

be more of a public sham thana real investigation, she becomes more agitated.
In thefinallinesof the scene Gerardoconfesseshis lie, uttering"si" repeatedly
(23). Now "si" is not forcedand it is not a signof camaraderie,it is an affirma-
tionofGerardo'sbetrayal,and whileanguished,itrevealsthepainfulchasmthat
lies betweenthem.Not onlythe wordsof pain and the wordsof violence have
been shatteredbythedictatorship; theopeningscene showshowyearsoflinguis-
tic abuse have damaged the wordsof love,the wordsof reconciliation,and the
wordsof hope. The questionis whetherthatdamage is "irreparable."
Manycriticshavenoticedthewaysthecharactersshiftposition,fromvictimto
victimizer, fromdominantto submissive(Jofré94-95; Vidal 291-93). Theyalso
all twistlanguage in similarways.All of the characterslie. All of the characters
attemptto censor and silence. All self-censor. All attemptto force,sometimes
violently, sometimes subtly,the othersto to
speak, articulatewordsthattheywant
to hear. Charactersparalleleach other:GerardobetraysPaulina whileMiranda
(supposedly)rapes her,Paulina lies to her husbandand he lies to her,Miranda
(supposedly)violatesPaulina and she later kidnaps him, and theyall punish
each other.15 Paulina adopts a masculinevoice on more thanone occasion and
in the Spanishversionof the playwhen GerardodescribesMirandaas his good
Samaritanhe saysthattheyare "almas gemelas" (23). All of theseparallelsseem
to suggestan impossibility of arrivingat the truthmade all the more noteworthy
bythe factthateach of the charactersuses the word "verdad" on variousocca-
sions and theyalmostnevermean the same thing.To underscorethisproblem
one of Miranda'slinguisticticsis the phrase "la verdadla verdad". He has two
otherlinguistichabits:He oftensays"pocón" and he quotes Nietzsche.
It is likelythatDorfmangave Mirandathesethreelinguisticticsfora reason,
because consideredtogethertheyconstructimportantclues to the play'smajor
themesabout languageand truth.Firstof all, thesewordsformthe cornerstone
ofPaulina'sproofofhisguilt.Whatmayappear as randomutterancesand casual
expressionsserveas the foundationforher beliefin his culpability. Second, the
threeticsthemselvesforman interesting commentary on the representational
accuracyof language.The repetitionof the phrase "la verdadla verdad" play-
fullyand disturbingly suggeststhe absence of truth.It is utteredin moments
when Miranda suspectsthat he will not be believed or when he seems to be
confessingan intimacy. Then "pocón" is a similarly strangelinguistichabitfora
grown man, one thatagain performslinguisticdeception,since in hiswordplay
he uses an augmentative(on) insteadof a diminutive(ito or ilio) to exaggerate
the idea of smallness.In effect,he twiststhe word,much in the waythatthe
dictatorship twistedwords,bydeforming itto signifystrangely.Mostimportantly,
thesetwolinguisticticsare not common;theyare not partof a largercollective
lexicon used in Chile. They sound odd. Consequently,theysuggestMirandaas
one who manipulateslanguage and one whose wordsthemselvesindicatehis
distancefromthe community.
A keyclue to Miranda'suse oflanguagecomesfromhismisquotationofNietz-

15Muchis made ofwhetherMirandais

actuallyguilty.I agreewithVidal thathe is guilty,
butI also thinkthattheplayis written
so as to allowfora degreeofambiguity forthosethat
wishto remainskeptical.

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 Tortureand Truth •* 189
MCCLENNEN,

sehe, who utteredmanymisogynist statementsbut not the one that Miranda

ascribesto him: "jamás podemos poseer esa alma femenina"(28). 1BMirandais
actuallyreferring here to Freud,who spentconsiderabletimewonderingabout
the soul and femininity.17 Nietzsche,in contrast,was not concernedwithwom-
en's souls,even ifhe was also notoriously misogynist. When Dorfmandecided to
have MirandamisquoteFreud and insteadattributehis statementof Nietzsche,
he was able to link,albeitobliquely,Miranda'suse of languagewithNietzsche's
critiqueof the truth.There is no questionthatDorfmanuses Nietzschestrategi-
cally.At the timeof the play'swritingpoststructural theoriesskepticalabout the
relationshipbetweenlanguage and meaningwerein highcirculationand itwas
commonforintellectualsin Chile and elsewhereto question the idea of truth
and thefoundationof ethicalcommitment. One of theforefathers of theseanti-
foundationalpostmoderntheorieswas Nietzschewho critiques,forinstance,in
BeyondGoodand Evil whathe calls the "Will to Truth" (1) and who describes
truthin On Truth and Lyingin a Non-Moral Senseas a "movablehostofmetaphors,
metonymies, and anthropomorphisms" (3).18An enigmaticfigurewho appealed
to both the Nazis and to the poststructuralists,Nietzsche'sclaimsthatthereare
no universally truefactsand thatall ethicalstatementsare relativecombinedto
forma fundamentally nihilisticphilosophy.Dorfman'sinsertionof him in his
play, uttered by the accused torturerof Paulina,is highlysignificantand attests
to an importantdistinctionbetweenDorfman'sviewsabout the difficulties of
uncovering the truth and those of nihilist
postmodernists.
Bythe late 1990s,withthe era of globalizationand the era of testimony coin-
ciding with what I have described as highpostmodernism'questioning all
s of
formsof signification itwas commonto wonderwhetheritwas possibleto repre-
sent the truth.But these questionstended to take twoforms.On the one side
were the nihilistswho consideredthatany effortat uncoveringthe truthwas
essentiallyidentical to the constructionof a dangerous master narrative.
Whereas anotherbranch of postmodernthinkersrecognizedthatbinarydivi-
sionsbetweentruthand lies,good and evil,meaningfullanguage and deceptive
language had grownincreasingly blurredbut theybelieved thatthatlack of a
clearfoundationshould not lead to nihilismbut ratherto more nuanced,more
dialogicaland dialecticalwaysof approachingtheseproblems.These questions
are absolutelyessentialto the play.When a nation has been ruled byviolence
and deceptionand whenthepeople havegrowncomplicitthroughtheirsubmis-
sion to terror,how is it possible to constructan ethical system?Dorfmanasks:
"How can you tell the truthif the maskyou have adopted is identicalto your
face?" (147).

16Nietzscheis famousfortwosetsof to women.In ThusSpoke

quotesthatrefernegatively
Zarathustra he suggeststhatwomen'ssole functionis to reproduce.Numerousreferencesin
thattextcall forwomento submitto men. And BeyondGoodand Evil opens withthe line:
"Supposingthattruthis a woman- whatthen?"(ix).
17The
originalquote is: "The greatquestionthathas neverbeen answered,and whichI
havenotyetbeen able to answer,despitemythirty yearsof researchintothefemininesoul,
is 'Whatdoes a womanwant?'" (qtd. inJones474).
18
http://www.scribd.com/doc/46681/On-Truth-and-Lies-in-a-Nonmoral-Sense-By-Fried
rich-Nietzsche

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190 •* RevistaHispánicaModerna62.2 ( 2009)

La muerte y la doncellais a playthatbeginsfromthe startingpointthatthereis

no universaltruth.That is not the dilemma.Rather,theproblemis that,ifall of
thecharactersin theplayhaveviolatedone anotherto some degree,iftheyhave
all lied and all deceived,thenhow canjustice be possible?If thereis no founda-
tionand no clear line dividinggood and evil,howwilla new societybe formed?
That is thechallengebecause clearguidelinesdo not existand thereare no easy
pathstojustice.One importantlessonof theplayis thatall lies are not equal, all
deceptionsand transgressions are not identical.Justbecause all ofthecharacters
lie does not make them equally deceptiveand just because theyall hurtone
anotherdoes not make them equally guiltyof crimesagainsthumanity.They
intersectand overlapand occupyparallelplaces,but theyare not the same nor
are theyentirelydifferent, whichleaves the audience withthe difficult taskof
determininghow to arriveat justice when all are relatively guilty.Given these
circumstances how can the nation heal? How can it punish thosewho mustbe
punishedand forgivethosewho mustbe forgivenwheneveryonedeservesboth
to some degree?
It is importantto rememberthat Paulina was tortured,at least in part,to
discover"the truth."As Elaine Scarrynotes,tortureconstructs a systemof signi-
fication;"it is itselfa language" (27). Linked to theviolationof the bodyis the
interrogation, the forcefulextractionof language. Furthermore, any language
thatemitsfromthe torturedbodyis alwaysa betrayal(Scarry35). Scarrypoints
out thatthisprocessplaces themoralresponsibility on the torturevictim,rather
thanon the torturer. Dorfmanattemptsto drawattentionto thisprocessof link-
ingviolence,language,and ethicsbyoverlappingthemoralpositionsofhischar-
actersso thatthe torturevictimbecomes the torturer who mustseek the truthof
her own torturebyviolentlyforcingher torturerto speak. Is Paulina's violent
search forthe truthequivalentin tacticsthatof her torturers? This tensionis
emphasizedin theexchangebetweenPaulina and Gerardowherehe claimsthat
as long as she is pointinga gun at himand at thedoctor,therecan be no conver-
sation.And, of course,Gerardo's positionmirrorsthe standardhuman rights
argumentsagainstviolencethatsuggestthattortureis neverthebestwayto find
out the truthsince it is a practicethatis unethicaland unreliable.But,forPau-
lina, the victimof torturein a statethat has decided to neglect her claim to
truth,the onlytruthcan come fromviolence:"Por el contrario,apenas deje de
apuntar,la conversaciónse acaba" (40). Scarryshowsthattortureconstructsits
own violentstructures of truth;Dorfmanthen goes the next step and inquires
intotherole ofviolencein thepost-torture questfortruth.
Page DuBois explainsthattortureis also about breakingthe spirit,terrifying
the public and creatinga global spectacle (157). Everywaythatthe Pinochet
regimedefinedand craftedand coerced the truthwas violentand deceptive.
The truthin Miranda'sworldwas a truthof domination.Then the RettigCom-
missioncame forwardas a gesturetowardsthe truth,but it was such a weak
attempt,so smallin the face of so much suffering, thatitsefforts to correctthe
truthsof theregimewerealmostmorepainfulbecause theydenied the truthsof
so many.The truthof the commissionwas stillshroudedin secretsand omis-
sions. Ratherthan relegate the idea of the truthto the realm of hegemonic
masternarratives, though,Dorfman'splayrefusesnihilismas much as it refuses

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 Tortureand Truth •* 191
MCCLENNEN,

certainty.This strategy is evidencedbythe factthateven thoughPaulina's testi-

monial to Gerardo is not absolutelytrueand even thoughthe audience never
learnsthe actual detailsof her torture,the audience does not questionwhether
or not she was detained,tortured,and raped. Similarly, even thoughMiranda's
confessionmaybe coerced and maynot be entirelyfactual,thereis no question
thatthe wordshe speaks are truein a different sense, in the sense that,if not
him,thensomeone like him.
This strugglefortruthin the aftermathof tortureis the core dilemmathat
concernsthe playand it is a dilemmathatis neverfullyresolved.The clearest
indicationof thisambiguity lies in theending,whichmirrorsboth theaudience,
whena mirroris placed in frontof thestage,and also thebeginningof theplay.
Criticsare as dividedon whatto make of the ending as theyare on whetheror
not Miranda is guilty.One of the keyclues to the ending is thatthe wordsof
Gerardoecho the beginning.The firstlines of the playare repeatedat the end,
whenGerardospeaksat the openingto Mirandaand thenin theend of the play
to the audience about Paulina's abilityto mix a strongdrink.He saysshe "hace
un piscosourque es de miedo" (16; 83). It is a repetitionthatcould suggestthat
therehas been no change,thatGerardohas learnednothing,and thathe is still
the same man, braggingabout the domesticskillsof his wife.But whatis most
importantabout thisrepetitionis the use of the words"de miedo," translated
intoEnglishas "makeyourhairstandon end," wordsthatdoublysignify because
they can refer to both a strong drink and also to torture. Are both of Gerardo's
utterancesthesame?Do theymean the same thingto the audience and does he
mean thesame thingwhenhe saysthem?It is myreadingthattheydo not mean
thesame thingand thatthe playhas slowlyturnedlanguageintoone of itsmain
characters.Over the course of the threeacts,the audience has gone frombeing
able to casuallylistento Gerardo say thathis wifecan make a drinkthatwill
make one's hair stand on end to a place where such phrasescarryan entirely
differentweight.No matterwhatthe audience thinksabout Paulina's sanityor
Miranda'sguilt,thosewordswillnot sound the same and thereinlies Dorfman's
finalmessageabout languageand truth:theirconnectionmaybe unstable,apor-
etic,and imprecise,but the ongoingprojectof critically consideringsuch com-
municativedisruptionsconstitutesthe hopefulchallengeof liferatherthanthe
nihilismof despair.
Of course the lastwordsof the play are not its last sounds; those are leftto
Schubertand the quartetthatlends itstitleto the play.In tandemto the play's
interestin the relationshipbetweenlanguage and truthis itsinterestin the role
thatartcan playin mediatingterror,offering inspiration, and representing trag-
edy. Carolyn Pinet points out that Gerardo's role on the commissionwillbe to
createa new text(95). Bythe end of the playthattexthas been completedeven
thoughit was "censored in advance" (95). The play produces two additional
texts:Paulina's testimonial, whichthe audience neveractuallyhears,and Miran-
da's coerced confession,whichhe bothrecordsand writes.In contrast,Paulina's
textremainsunwritten and unheard.These textsand theirincomplete,frustrat-
ing ambiguity connect directlyto anothersetof texts,thosethatare artistic.The
play wonders how these different typesof representation relateto one another.
Forjust as Paulina's testimonialis tied to Miranda's confession,theyshare an-

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192 *• RevistaHispánicaModerna62.2(2009)

otherbond thatlinksart to torture.They both take pleasure in the music of

Schubert.While Mirandahas enjoyedhis Schubertand a privilegedlife,Pauli-
na's storyhas gone unheardand she has been unable to listento Schubertsince
her torture.That connectionallowsDorfmanto pursueanotherset of questions
about art and social trauma.How can victimsand perpetrators share the same
art?Whathappens to artaftertorture?
These questionsare aptlychanneled throughDorfman'schoice of musical
interlocutor,FranzSchubert.ManyscholarshavepursuedthetiesbetweenSchu-
bert'squartetand the play,tracingthe connectionsbetweenthe poem by M.
Claudius,Schubert'ssong and the quartetthatonlylatercame to be knownas
Der TodundDas Mädchen.The themesof the song,wherea maidenis frightened
by death,who respondsthatshe need not be afraidbecause he is her friend,
have obviousconnectionsto the drama of the play.David Schroederprovides
the mostthoroughanalysisof the intertextualitybetweenthe playand the quar-
tet,and he suggeststhat Dorfman chooses Schubertbecause ofthelinksbetween
Schubert'saestheticprojectand his own: "In struggling witha societyunable to
finditswayaftera period of brutality,questioning capabilityof returningto
its
and decencyor even recognizinghope, Dorfmancould not have founda
civility
spiritmore resonantto the same probingthan Schubert" (n.p.). There are a
numberofcrucialaestheticlinksthatSchroederidentifiesbetweentheplayand
thequartet:bothworksshrinkthespace betweentheperformanceand theaudi-
ence, bothworksare profoundly ambiguous,and bothworksrefuseto satisfy the
desireforbeauty,nostalgia,and reconciliationaftera momentof destruction.
A keypartoftheinterplay betweenSchubert'squartetand theplayis theform
of the quartet.Oftenreferredto as a conversationamong equals, the quartetis
one of the mostintimatemusicalformsand itwas commonforthe composerto
playone of the instruments. The pairingof a quartetthatuses fourinstruments
overfourmovementswitha playin threeactswiththreecharactersallowsDorf-
man to push on the relationshipbetweenart and form.On one level the play
revolvesaround a seriesof triangulations,betweencharacters,betweenacts,be-
tweenthe threemomentswhenSchubert'smusicappears in the play,but,most
importantly betweenthe threeviewsof the truththateach characterrepresents.
Againstthese triangulations Dorfman'sintertextualitywithSchubert'squartet
insertsa fourthelementthatrepeatedlyintervenesto disruptthisstructure. For
instance,the threesourcesof sound thatcome fromthe character'svoices are
interrupted bya fourthsource,whichalternatesbetweenthe musicof a quartet
(eitherSchubertor Mozart) and the voice of Miranda on the tape recorder.
During the firstscene of the thirdact when Paulina explainshow listeningto
Schubertwhilebeingtorturedallowedher to reclaim,briefly, her humanity, the
audience then hears the music itself.Paulina's voice fades to be replaced by
Miranda,who confessesthathe used the music to manipulatehis victims.For
her,the musicwas a salvation,but it was a deceptiveand ultimately destructive
her mostexcruciating
one, because itsbeautyis preciselywhatluredher to suffer
terror.Like thefalsewordsof death in Schubert'ssong,thattellthe maidennot
to worryand thatshe should not be afraid,the musicprovideda briefrespite
fromthehorrorsof torture.As Paulina explains,Mirandawas her mostdevastat-
ing torturer,because in contrastwiththe barbarityof the othershe: "ponía

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 MCCLENNEN,Torture and Truth •* 193

Schubert"(54). Mirandaconfirmsthisin his confession:"Ponía músicaporque

eso ayudaba al rol que me tocaba hacer,el rol del bueno, que le dicen, ponía
Schubertpara que me tomaranconfianza" (70). He uses Schubertbecause it
remindshis prisonersof the civilizedworld,makingit easier forthemto with-
stand the darknessof terror.Eventually,though,the music's associationwith
torturecontaminatesthe idea of civilizationforPaulina entirely. Afterconfront-
ing Mirandawithher certainty of his guilt,Paulina claimsthatshe willnow kill
him.Withthisact she believesshe willbe able to recoverher sense ofcivilization:
"Para que yo pueda escucharmi Schubertsin pensarque usted tambiénlo va a
estarescuchando,que va a estarensuciandomi día y mi Schuberty mi país y mi
marido" (75). Paulina createsa corollarylinkbetweenSchubert,her happiness,
her country,and her husband. Miranda has contaminatedall of themforher
and ifshe killshim,she thinkshe willno longercontroltheirmeaningforher.
She will recoverthe art and beautyof Schubertand by associationall of the
meaningfulpartsof her life.The problem,of course,is thatthe solutionis not
thatsimplebecause the workof art and its meaningcan not be controlledso
simply,especiallyin a contextof violence. If she killshim, her Schubertmay
become even moredisturbing.
Dorfmanillustratesthispoint by breakingthe fourthplane of the stage and
implicatingthe audience as the fourthinstrument whilea mirrordescendsin a
Brechtianmove of distanciation.In the backgroundthe audience hears the
fourthmovementof a differentquartet,Mozart's Dissonance Quartet. The
choice of music is again quite telling.There is a prior link to Miranda,who
earlierin the playhad said "También me gustaVivaldi,y Mozart,y Telemann"
(59). The last movementof Mozart'squartetis oftenthoughtof as a lighter
ending to the disturbingintroductionto the piece, but as Schroederexplains,
the last movement"initiallycreatesan illusionthatall is well,but throughits
proceduresquicklyunderminesthatsense of stability."19 The referenceto disso-
nance is yetanotherclue to the intersections betweenthe playand the music:
Artmayhelp to build a bridge,but it mayalso be a wayto destroyeverything.
Dorfmanpushes thisnotionbysuggestingthatartcan createcommunity just as
surely as it can annihilateit. If Schubert's quartethas become irremediably tain-
ted forthe charactersand the audience, whatare the hopes thatthe play,La
muerte can highlightthe social functionof art?
y la doncella,
The playaskstwointersecting questionsabout artand atrocity. The firstrelates
to the idea of sharedart,wherethe victimand the torturerenjoythe same art.
Does thatlinkbuild community or contaminateitsveryidea? The second refers
to artafteratrocity,to thecorruptionofartthathas playeda role in perpetuating
socialviolence.Ifartcan be a tool of torture,thenhow can it also be a tool of its
healing?Theodor Adorno'sfamousquestionabout thepossibility ofpoetryafter
Auschwitzadds anotherlayerof doubtsabout artand trauma:"To writepoetry
afterAuschwitzis barbaric" {Prisms34). Oftenmisreadas a statementabout the
end of art,Adornospeaksto both theintractablelimitations of artin theface of
horrorand the absolutenecessityforit. When artisticdiscoursehas been thor-
oughlyimplicatedas an accompliceto the massiveabuse of humanlife,how can
19This
quotationcomesfrompersonalemailcorrespondence.

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194 *• RevistaHispánicaModerna62.2 ( 2009)

art servethe processof reconstruction and reconciliation?Adorno argues that

artafterAuschwitzmustmove past "self-satisfied contemplation"(34). Hoping
to functionmoreas a questionthanan answer,La muerte y la doncellascircularity
drawattentionto the play'sown fragilerole in representing
and self-reflexivity
social conflictafteratrocity.
La muerte y la doncellasemphasison the tiesbetweenart,language,truth,and
torturelocate thisworkwithina historicalmomentwhentherewas muchpublic
interestin understanding thelinksbetweenmemory,trauma,and culturalrepre-
sentation.As Dori Laub and Shoshana Felmanclaim in referenceto the 1990s,
"our era can preciselybe definedas the age of testimony"(6). The desireand
need fortestimony, theysuggest,is due to a "crisisof truth"and a profound
questioningof the evidencethathas been used to definethe past (6). Situated
at the dawn of the era of globalizationwhen the era of testimonycoincided
witha deep questioningoftherelationshipbetweentruth,memory,and trauma,
Dorfman'sLa muerte y la doncellaasks the audience to imagine an art that is
neithercomplacentnor complicit,thatexposes itsownfailures,and thatrecog-
nizes theslow,painful,imperfect processof recovery.

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