A Chilean-American citizen born in Argentina, Ariel Dorfman is a novelist and playwright. He has been hailed as one of the most important Latin American novelists and social critics of his time for his many books, written in English and Spanish and translated into more than 50 languages. His plays have been performed in over 100 countries, including Death and the Maiden (filmed in 1994 by Roman Polanski), Purgatorio and Speak Truth to Power: Voices from Beyond the Dark. His poetry, essays, novels, plays and short stories have won numerous international awards. A Distinguished Professor at Duke University, human rights activist and contributor to major papers and journals across the
Ariel Dorfman
Articles by Ariel Dorfman
Monday September 25
Are We Really So Fearful?
DURHAM, N.C.—It still haunts me, the first time—it was in Chile, in October of 1973—that I met someone who had been tortured. To save my life, I had sought refuge in the Argentine Embassy some weeks after the coup that had toppled the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, a government for which I had
Wednesday December 7
Sube a Nacer Conmigo
Buenas noches. Thirty years ago, when Pablo Neruda was buried in Santiago’s Cementerio General, I was living just a few miles away from where his body was being lowered into the earth that he had celebrated so sensually. I could easily have walked to that cemetery and joined the men and women chanting next to
Saturday December 3
Liberty’s Language
NEW YORK – As the ultimate guardians of language and its complexity, writers have always felt the need to deal with the great crises of their time. In those troubled moments in history when the old ways are dying and the new words with which men and women try to make sense of the world