Death and the Maiden

(La muerte y la doncella)

Ariel Dorfman, 1990

Setting, Historical Context:A nameless country in Latin America

that has only recently returned to democracy(i.e. Post-Pinochet Chile)

Augusto Pinochet: 1915-2006

The Aftermath of Tyranny

Ariel Dorfman: 1942 –

A political refugee during the Pinochet regime, Dorfman now divides his time between the U.S. and Chile. He has been a professor at Duke University since 1985.

Born Buenos Aires, 1942U.S., 1943 – 1954Chile, 1954 – 1973U.S., 1973 – 1990

Dorfmann’s work: varied and prolific• The Last Song of Manuel Sendero (1988): “futuristic exploits of a politically

asphyxiated dictatorship.”• Blake’s Therapy (2001): “the conditions of reality in contemporary

capitalist culture.” • Exorcising Terror: The Incredible Unending Trial of Augusto Pinochet (2002)• Americanos: Los pasos de Murieta (2009): ”narrating California, the

incorporation of part of the Mexican territory to the U.S., from the Latin American perspective.”

Death and the Maiden

• Motif in Renaissance painting

• Originated with the Medieval Dance of Death, but with an added erotic subtext

• Dance of Death: an allegory about the universality of death, and its unifying power

• Later revived in the Romantic period (“Christabel”?)

Michael Wolgemut, Germany, 1943: “Dance of Death”

“Death and the Maiden” by Franz Schubert quartet / lied – “death knell accompanying a song about the terror & comfort of death”

The song details “a woman’s subjection to a death figure in musical form.”

Original German – Der Tod und das Mädchen English: Death and the Maiden

Das Mädchen:Vorüber! Ach, vorüber!Geh, wilder Knochenmann!Ich bin noch jung! Geh, lieber,Und rühre mich nicht an.Und rühre mich nicht an.

Der Tod:Gib deine Hand, du schön und zart Gebild!Bin Freund, und komme nicht, zu strafen.Sei gutes Muts! ich bin nicht wild,Sollst sanft in meinen Armen schlafen!

The Maiden:Pass me by! Oh, pass me by!Go, fierce man of bones!I am still young! Go, rather,And do not touch me.And do not touch me.

Death:Give me your hand, you beautiful and tender form!I am a friend, and come not to punish.Be of good cheer! I am not fierce,Softly shall you sleep in my arms!

The play:• A drama in three acts, with three characters:

– Paulina Salas: a woman around 40, formerly a political activist who was taken captive and tortured twenty years earlier during a hostile military regime

– Gerardo Escobar: her husband, a lawyer who has just been offered a position on a commission to investigate the crimes of the previous regime

– Dr. Roberto Miranda: a medical doctor who helps Gerardo when his car gets a flat tire near his home

• Setting: A remote Chilean beach house, 1990’s

Citations

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hans_Baldung_006.jpg

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Death_and_the_Maiden.jpg

• http://sakenaveen.blogspot.com/• http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/worldviews/c

ategory?cat=1025• http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,,1

970170,00.html• http://bombsite.com/issues/50/articles/1833 • http://blog.moviefone.com/2007/09/12/tiff-review-

a-promise-to-the-dead-the-exile-journey-of-ariel-d/• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Dorfman• http://www.sevenstories.com/book/?GCOI=583221

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