An internationally acclaimed Chilean author and political activist is leaving a written legacy at Duke.
Ariel Dorfman, Walter Hines Page professor of literature and Latin American studies, will place his personal archive in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, the University announced Sept. 20. He presented his memoir, entitled “Feeding on Dreams: Confessions of an Unrepentant Exile,” during a reading in Perkins Library Wednesday.
Dorfman, who was exiled from Chile following dictator Augusto Pinochet’s rise to power in 1973, began teaching at Duke in 1985 and became a permanent professor in 1989.
“Duke welcomed me when things were really complicated,” he said. “When I die, these papers will be there, and they will continue my presence at Duke, which makes me extremely joyful.”
Known as both an award-winning author and playwright, Dorfman’s work often focuses on human rights issues, the effect of totalitarian regimes and the themes of globalization, memory and identity. His works have been translated into more than 40 languages.
His collection will include personal correspondence and journals, drafts of manuscripts and plays as well as photographs. The archive has been damaged many times throughout his struggles with exile and social justice, Dorfman added.
“I am placing what is left of it at Duke, and it is as if I am placing an orphan in their hands,” he said.
Acquiring the collection took several years of planning, said Deborah Jakubs, University librarian and vice provost for library affairs.
“The first and most important part in attracting special collections is to inspire confidence in the donors,” Jakubs said.
During the last year and a half, the Duke Libraries worked closely with Dorfman and his family to decide which papers should be available to the public at this point in his career, said Will Hansen, assistant curator of the Rubenstein Library. Some papers, such as family correspondences will be restricted to users with Dorfman’s permission.
The collection will provide valuable resources to the Duke community, Rubenstein Library Director Naomi Nelson said.
“Duke students and faculty will have immediate access to one of the most distinct voices of the 20th and 21st century and to the backstory of his struggle with exile, justice and tyanny,” Nelson said.
Dorfman will also donate the articles and texts he collected during his time as a member of the resistance movement against Pinochet.
“The most valuable part of the collection is the manuscript, in which you can see what adjectives I took out and what ideas I changed,” Dorfman said. “If somebody is interested in how creative process is done, there you have a chance.”
The donation will complement existing ones in the special collections library, Nelson noted.
“Bringing together the literary and human rights strands of the Duke collections, professor Dorfman’s papers will add something transformative,” she said.
In the reading Wednesday, Dorfman discussed how his latest work reflects his life following his departure from Chile and his career as an author and professor. The memoir contains snippets of Dorfman’s diary, starting when he returned to Chile in 1990. These snapshots of the past captured his reaction to his native country after nearly two decades.
“It is a story of transformation, how I became the person I am now and how I became the writer I am now,” he said.
Dorfman discussed some of the difficulties he faced when visiting Chile after many years. His friends in literary circles who stayed in Chile suffered under political repression as Dorfman achieved critical success in exile.
“The phone only rang when there [was] some favor to be asked,” Dorfman said.
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