en Chile’s democratically elected Allende and his Marxist government were overthrown in a coup by Augusto Pinochet in 1973 he found himself in opposition to those in power. Following Allende’s death, thousands of politicians, intellectuals, clergymen and writers, of which Dorfman was one, were expelled from Chile. Many famous and significant writings came from Dorfman. His writings include Windows, his Memoir Heading South Looking North: A Bilingual Journey, Death and the Maiden, along with many short stories and poems. His widely acclaimed novel Windows portrays a peasant woman whose male relatives including her husband, father and sons were abducted by the military. The novel shows the realistic, emotional strain and grief that disappearances put on the families of the missing. Knowing that this highly sensitive subject would probably prevent the book from being published in Chile, he devised a scheme to have Windows printed first in Europe under the pseudonym Eric Lohmann. He planned to have the novel published in Danish, French or German and then issued as a Spanish translation of a European novel. However, at the last minute the Spanish-language published backed out and the novel was ultimately released under Dorfman’s real name. After writing this novel, Dorfman wrote many poems focused on the same subject. Dorfman said, “all of my poems are ways of giving voices to those who have disappeared, and those who are left behind; I am a bridge between them. Words become a way of returning to your country—a cemetery, but also a resurrection ground.” (Contemporary Authors On Line “Dorfman” 1).Dorfman’s Memoir called Heading South Looking North: A Bilingual Journey outlines his escape and account of his years in Argentina as a cultural advisor and writer for Allende’s government. Dorfman said, “The book is very much an attempt to show what you do control and what...
