Evidence on the Terror on Chile Raben

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Evidence on the Terror on Chile Raben Sjogren,
1974
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Talking in Whispers James Watson

• Historical Novel

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A week in the life of a 16 year old boy

• Andres Larreta becomes a wanted man
• A story of one characters struggle to survive
• Consideration of the big themes freedom,
  human rights, love, justice
• Examination of coming of age
• Insight into the lives of the Chilean people

• Vividness, pace, excitement
• A exploration of how friendships develops
• How a people unite in the face of adversity
• Celebration of the arts, expression, poetry and
  music
• A love story
• Private and the public

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Assumptions and Questions

• Political novel or an exciting story in a
  political context?
• Representative of history or fuelled by
  dramatic descriptions of widely accepted myths?
• Part of historical discourse?
• Unconscious patterns of imagery and symbolism way
  beyond the authors intention?

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New Criticism is clearly characterised in premise
and practice it is not concerned with context
historical biographical, intellectual and so on
it is not interested in the fallacies of
intention or affect it is concerned solely
with the text in itself, with its language and
organisation it does not seek a texts
meaning, but how it speaks itself.
Contemporary Literary Theory Selden
Widdowson 1993
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• Consciousness
• Language technique
• Time and existence

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Historical sources are used to construct a link
between the an event in the past and how we view
it todaysuch representations in the form of
narrative may be fictional or may claim to embody
an event, but in both cases they address
themselves to a historical moment. This brings
the relationship between narrative and history to
the forefront. Romila Thapar narratives and the
making of history (2000)
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Comparisons Allendes last speech compared to
how it is represented in Talking In
Whispers Allendes death suicide or
assassination? Torture and oppression Andres
torture versus testimonies from Chileans who
suffered Texts supporting different political
perspectives, what do these tell us about the
meaning within the novel?
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Every narrative has a context which is
consciously or subconsciously derived from a
world view and an ideology. A fictionalized
narrative cannot be treated as history but it can
be an indicator of a past condition. Romila
Thapar narratives and the making of history
(2000)
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General Augusto Pinochet
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The enemy within
The newsreader had paused for a moment as the
first chords of the Chilean national anthem
signalled the end of his broadcast. People
of Chile the price of honour and justice is
eternal vigilance. The resistance Movement must
be crushed once and for all. Let us therefore
stand together, in unity, against the enemy
within.
Talking In Whispers James Watson
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Representations in the novel of events in
history

• Fall of president Allende
• 1973 military Coup
• Against a Marxist ideology
• Eradicating communism
• Move towards a free-market economy
• containment of the enemy within
• From the cold war onwards

• Pinochet as president, the dictatorial Chilean
  ruler
• Role of the military Junta
• Forming of secret police
• Reduction of the welfare state
• Cuts in public spending
• Private ownership increasing
• Lack of awareness of the masses in the early days
  of what was happening

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It may be that any novel can be profitably
examined as a political document, but no one
should suppose that a books sense of itself is
of no consequence in determining what it is. In
fact, the tendency of many recent critics to
ignore a books sense of itself had led them also
to be indifferent to what it is. Atrocity and
Amnesia The Political Novel since 1945 Robert
Boyers 1985
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Blueprint for Britain Andy Beckett for the
Guardian Weekend May 4 2002
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• Thacherite before Thatcher
• Alan Walters (right wing economist), link between
  Pinochet and Thatcher
• The Chicago Boys
• Only a single strong leadercould force the
  population to endureeconomic shock
  treatment.
• Late 1970s, higher overall economic growth than
  America and Europe

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The national anthems are played. The teams are
inspected by the vice-president of the republic,
the chief of the Chilean navy, accompanied by the
British Ambassador, a close friend of the
Zuckerman family. No sign, no evidence. The
memory is erased from here Epilogue Talking
in Whispers James Watson
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There are those who argue that narrative speaks
for itself and does not require historians to
interpret it. But narrative does not speak, it is
spoken. The historian in giving a voice to the
narrative, invests it with nuances, emphases and
interpretations. This is inevitably a different
voice from that of the poet, dramatist, the
chronicler, although there may be points of
fusion. The recognition of differences, it seems
to me enriches the reading. Romila Thapar
narratives and the making of history 2000