Death and the Maiden: Tie-In Edition (Plays, Penguin) (Paperback)

~ Ariel Dorfman (Author) "Sound of the sea..." (more)
Key Phrases: real real truth, Doctor Miranda, Paulina Salas, Roberto Miranda (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This powerful political drama and psychological thriller by the noted Chilean writer premiered in London last summer, where it won the Time Out Award for Best Play. In March it opened in the United States on Broadway, with direction by Mike Nichols and starring Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss, and Gene Hackman. The play focuses on a woman who finds herself in the position to exact revenge upon a man whom she believes to have been her torturer 15 years earlier. In telling this story, the author also addresses the dilemmas which touch all our lives: innocence and evil, truth and lies, forgiveness, and revenge. This is a worthwhile addition to modern drama collections.
- Howard E. Miller, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Missouri Lib., St. Louis
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Years after she was blindfolded and tortured by Pinochet's police force, Chilean woman Paulina marries Gerardo and through him meets, Roberto, whose voice she is certain was that of the man who tortured her years before. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (December 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140246843
• ISBN-13: 978-0140246841
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #177,717 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DEATH AND THE MAIDEN finds excitement in ideals., March 28, 1997

By A Customer

Thousands of Chilean citizens are said to have "disappeared" during the regime of General Augusto Pinochet, who reigned from 1973-1990. Though not specifically set in Chile, DEATH AND THE MAIDEN is about learning to live again in the aftermath of such an era.

Gerardo Escobar has just been named to a commission that will investigate human rights cases against the old government that ended in death (or the presumption of death). His wife, Paulina, was victimized herself fifteen years earlier, and still has not recovered from the trauma. Now she believes Roberto Miranda, the good Samaritan who came to Gerardo's aid on the road when he had a flat tire, is the same doctor who oversaw her torture years ago, and since there is no hope of gaining justice from the courts, she decides to put Dr. Miranda "on trial" herself.

Playwright Ariel Dorfman pits his characters' heads against their hearts, and the result is a play that is as exciting intellectually as it is emotionally. They are forced to try to answer the kinds of questions with which human beings prefer never to be faced.

How can we be sure of our own ideals? How can we escape our demons when they surround us every day? How can there be justice if the criminal is never punished?

How can we ever learn to forgive, and NEVER learn to forget?

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine play hampered by a difficult translation, June 22, 2008

By	Robert Buchanan "Brazen Cur" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Directly based on experiences related to Pinochet's Chilean regime and its extended aftermath, Dorfman's stage play is one of the medium's most challenging dramatic works to be written in the past few decades. A novel scenario is exploited with nearly brilliant results: this is an exciting, harrowing exploration of numerous personal and political issues, and how they interact. The roles are imbued with representational characterization in order to enforce the universal elements of the story, but they possess genuine depth. The story's conclusion lacks concrete resolution, but this ambiguity has been implemented in order to better examine numerous lingering themes; Dorfman does not pretend that all of the problems he addresses have simple solutions, if any at all.

The naturalism of the dialogue is sporadic. Most of the more forceful passages are quite effective, but emotive exchanges reek of stilted melodrama. The most likely explanation is that this probably reads (and views?) far better in Castilian; what seems overblown or unnatural by the dramatic strictures of a convoluted language like English is often gratifying in that far more expressive Romantic tongue. Maybe Dorfman shouldn't be translating his own work.

Readers should avoid Roman Polansky's moronic film adaptation of this play, especially if they haven't read or seen it performed beforehand; the film's insipid screenplay utilizes some of the same surprises that are much more effectively revealed in the course of the play.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is justice ever really served?, April 7, 2004

By	Melissa Niksic (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Ariel Dorfman was a Chilean exile who feared that he might "disappear" if he attempted to live and work under the Pinochet dictatorship. "Death and the Maiden" is a sort of autobiography for Dorfman. The play centers around the character of Paulina, a woman who ultimately kidnaps the man she suspects of holding her prisoner and presiding over her torture and rape many years ago. It's a suspenseful play that tackles the issues of justice and retribution, but it also has elements of suspense and mystery: is Dr. Miranda really the person that Paulina thinks he is? This is an excellent play that's fairly well-known, yet it's hardly ever staged for some reason, which is a shame. (Note: Never, EVER subject yourself to the Sigourney Weaver/Ben Kingsley movie version. It is so awful.)