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| Plot Summary of Heading South, Looking North |
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"Ariel Dorfman, the author of "Death and the Maiden" and "How to Read Donald Duck," was born in Argentina but taken by his parents to New York City as a young child. Pushed out of the U.S. by McCarthyism for their socialist leanings, his family resettled in Chile. He studied at Berkeley and now teaches at Duke. But most of the book centers on his childhood and early adulthood in Chile. Dorfman was named Vladimiro by his father in admiration of Lenin, but as a boy he fought to reject Spanish, then English, then back again -- torn between two languages -- and adopted the first name Edward, then his middle name Ariel. (His ethnic background is also Jewish.) After the socialist government of Salvador Allende ascended to power in Chile, Dorfman was heavily involved. Then came the CIA-backed coup in which Allende and many of his colleagues were killed, and the author survived by a series of lucky chances and help. The book describes Dorfman's love-hate relationship with the U.S. and the English language."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Heading South, Looking North |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Political/social rights fight
Yes
Plotlet:
- communists!!!!
Period of greatest activity?
- 1950+
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- writer
Ethnicity
- Hispanic/Latinic
Nationality
- Central/South American
How sensitive is this person?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other people
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 3 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
The Americas (not US):
Yes
The Americas:
- South
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
- dangerous
- wealthy
Misc setting
- Fancy Mansion
- prison
Century:
- 1960's-1970's
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Book makes you feel?
- thoughtful
Commentary on society?
Yes
Commentary on
- race
- decency
- capitalism
- wicked white people
- wicked men
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
Writer's slant towards subject:
- favorable
Story of entire life, or part?
- story of set of events during life
Autobiography?
Yes
Pictures/Illustrations?
- None
How much dialogue in bio?
- significantly more descript than dialog
How much is philosophy rather than life story?
- 0-25% of book
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Click here for more information about this book
Ariel Dorfman Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Loftus
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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