SOURCE: Dorfman, Ariel, and Wendy Smith. “Ariel Dorfman.” Publishers Weekly 234, no. 17 (21 October 1988): 39-40.

In the following interview, Dorfman discusses the themes and narrative voice of The Last Song of Manuel Sendero and Mascara.

It is the dubious distinction of the 20th century to have created a vast literature of exile. The most compelling voices of our time are homeless, and modern fiction has been enriched by the passion of expatriate writers from cultures as diverse as those of Czechoslovakia, Colombia, Russia and Peru. Chilean author Ariel Dorfman gave near-definitive expression to the anguish of exile in The Last Song of Manuel Sendero, published here in 1987. In his new novel, Mascara, just published by Viking, he moves beyond the confines of that experience, exploring the fragmentation, despair and moral anarchy that inform even more settled lives, while retaining his commitment to the struggle for freedom and justice in his...