Open Letter to Pinochet / Miss Kitty

About the Book

OPEN LETTER TO PINOCHET by Marco Antonio de la Parra ignited debates that forever changed Chile.  It presents an incisive viewpoint of Pinochet's regime and its effect on the populace from the standpoint of the intellectual/artist in Chile.  CARTA ABIERTA A PINOCHET was originally published in April 1998 by Editorial Planeta Chilena and it has been on the best seller lists in Chile ever since. The book is a true-life historic document, a testimony of horror and despair, with hopes for a better future.  CLICHES is an allegory of the takeover of Chile by a brutal militaristic regime.  THE OTHER LIFE is a short story which explores the fine line between dreams and reality in post-Pinochet Chile.  Told in the first-person, it takes the reader on an essential and existential journey where space and time, and reality and fantasy cross paths in planes known and unknown.  BEDS explores what's been gained and lost in terms of inter-personal relationships in the ambience of early post-Pinochet Chile.

MISS KITTY by Alejandro Sieveking is a unique story of post-Pinochet Chile, where people who have fought the good fight for freedom now must confront their growing malaise.  The dual inner monologue centers on a cat, an unchanging link between two mutable humans, a beloved creature of such stature that the humans speak of her in a derogatory manner in ironic token of their great esteem for her.  Miss Kitty, fat, sensual, affectionate and elegant, was originally a wedding present for Oswald and Mercedes, and thrives on their love and happiness.

The story would be extremely fragile if it consisted solely of those elements so familiar to us from tabloid reports and talk shows:  tales of human weakness, wants, and wandering.  The novella is carried by the portrait of Kitty, who is capable of lifelong loyalty and love.  She evokes the same in her two ``owners'' toward herself.  Toward each other they show no constancy.  Kitty is innocent and sensual at once, independent and affectionate, self-centered and outgoing; her simplicity resolves all opposites.  Oswald is bewildered and depressed, Mercedes is vacillating and restless.  Kitty retains her status, her self-esteem, her non-judgmental devotion and her charm.  She represents a refuge from problematical relationships, she is an ideal.  Like Tarzan and the other comic book characters, she soothes wounded spirits with her natural optimism and her animal courage in the face of adversity.

In INNOCENT DOVES a crime of passion occurs in the most expensive brothel on the Pacific coast, in which Martín and his lover are involved.  This incident is the catalyst for the action of Innocent Doves, which begins when three women are hounded by reporters trying to obtain information about this page from a mystery novel. (There is talk about a strangulation and suicide).  Then Martin's three sisters; Antonieta, Amelia, and Leontina, take possession of the previously mentioned establishment.  They feel they are the rightful heirs of the wealth left by their ``stingy'' son, and show their true colors; ``getting a penny out of him was like finding a pearl in an oyster at the bottom of the ocean.'' But they are faced with another obstacle: the unexpected return of Loreto, Leontina's daughter, whose purpose is to show the three sisters for what they are, and put them in their place.  What's more, per her uncle's instructions, she is the heir to the establishment.

As the play unfolds, we watch an ``almost'' tragic game, which involves a good dose of morbidity: these ``innocent doves'' don't really know in which world they live, and because of this weakness they leave themselves wide-open to be deceived.  Besides, each one of them has some kind of skeleton in their closet, which borders on the grotesque.  In their niece's words, ``they're picturesque to put it mildly.'

About the Author

Charles Philip Thomas is a professor of Spanish at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.  He has been translating Latin American literature for over 20 years.  His translations have appeared in literary magazines: Modern International Drama, Review: Latin American Literature and Art, and Latin American Literary Review.  Performances of his translations have taken place in professional and university theatres throughout the country.  Book length translations he has done include: The Praying Mantis and Other Plays by Alejandro Sieveking (GMW Productions, 1986); The Secret Holy War of Santiago de Chile by Marco Antonio de la Parra (Interlink Books, September 1994); The Theatre of Marco Antonio de la Parra: Translations and Commentary (Peter Lang, 1995).  His translation and adaptation into a musical comedy of DAYLIGHT SPIRITS, by Chilean author Alejandro Sieveking, premiered at The Blowing Rock Stage Company in Blowing Rock, NC. in summer 1999.  AVATAR (Ediciones Gallo Galante, 1999) by Puerto Rican playwright Roberto Ramos-Perea is his latest translation.