La memoria contra el olvido
Memory vs. oblivion

The case of the disappeared in Jorge Díaz's theatre: La cicatriz (1997) and El naufragio interminable (2000)

Summary/Abstract: Jorge Díaz is a Chilean dramatist committed to the sociopolitical cause. His works, especially those dealing with the dark times of the Chilean dictatorship, serve the purpose of preserving the collective memory of the groups that were affected. Diaz's theatre brings an immediate response to the injustices committed by the authorities. This paper investigates the concept of collective memory on the basis of the theoretical approaches of Maurice Halbwachs, Pierre Nora, Elizabeth Jelin, Tulia Almanza Loaiza, and Carlos Castilla del Pino in two short plays by Jorge Díaz: La cicatriz and El naufragio interminable. Both works commemorate the disappearance of people in Chile. The paper shows a series of similarities when dealing with the topic of disappearances. Both plays are openly structured, which allows greater interpretative freedom. In addition, both works make use of poetic discourse highlighting the symbolic value of such words as scars, water, rain, birds, or the sea, which allude respectively to betrayal, purification, regeneration, freedom, and death. As for the space-time structure, while the space category in both works contains a strong semantic load, time constitutes the biggest difference in the way the message of the works is perceived. La cicatriz demonstrates the destructive force of a past dominated by guilt; however, El naufragio interminable shows the lack of future prospects.

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