John Menick Writing

Pinochet the traitor, Pinochet the murderer, Pinochet the prisoner, Pinochet the word of “dreaded syllables.” These are among some of the dishonorable names that move through Ariel Dorfman’s book Exorcising Terror. In more than 200 pages, Dorfman adeptly chronicles the Pinochet trial in England while contemplating the precedents it sets and the troubled memories it unearths. It is a firsthand account, interweaving the stories of those who had the misfortune to cross the general’s path with those who wish now to bring him to justice. The reader may know the ending, but like the author, can only guess its implications. For Dorfman, even if the general was allowed to go free, his trial has created the possibility that the Chilean people will finally come to terms with the regime’s brutal past. No, there will not be a Pinochet the convicted, but as the book’s hopeful ending suggests, perhaps there will one day be a Pinochet the forgotten.