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Title: A Lexicon of Terror: Argentina and the Legacies of Torture (Oxford World's Classics) by Marguerite Feitlowitz ISBN: 0-19-513416-8 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: September, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.88 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Comprehensive and Well Written
Comment: The title of this book, The Lexicon of Terror, really only covers one chapter and an occassional reference here and there to how the junta manipulated language to influence the minds of the people. The book mostly covered the context of the Dirty War, the main bad guys, and many stories of victims.
After interviewing the victims, Feitlowitz has no mercy for the military perpatrators of the war. Even when she interviews Balza, the army cheif of staff in 1996 who seemed like one of the more repantant of the military guys, she isn't afraid to ask him tough questions.
She covers the book in both dichronic and synchronic time. She goes through chronology from the coup that put Videla in charge to the recovery of the country that was still going on when she finished her book in 1997. But in addition to that, she covers the stories of the individuals involved in the atrocities. One of the details that struck me the most was when she talked about former desaparecidos running into their former captors on the street. One captor even asked a victim how her family was doing.
Feitlowitz also tells about Scilingo, a former navy officer tortured by his memories of throwing living but drugged "subversives" from a plane on the infamous night flights. His life was ruined by his participation. She even makes an effort to explain that complicity in the army was guaranteed because if a member of the army did not follow orders or expressed concern with what was happening, they would soon disappear themselves. The excuse rings a little hollow, though, because of the brutalness of the torture.
History is frightening. I enjoyed how she talked about the way words were used as propaganda because it is an aspect of all governments. While I don't think our current administration is on par with Videla by any means, they certainly twist words to influence the way we thing about things, that play on our patriotism (the Patriot Act for instance) and our fear of terrorism. I don't think there is a government that doesn't try to influence the vocabulary of its people for their own purposes. Being able to recognize what they are doing allows us to maintain our freedom.
Rating: 5
Summary: Painful but Great
Comment: This is a shocking and painful book to read. There are other books which document the torture and atrocities of the Argentinian Dirty War in more detail, but none that reveals the horror of it all by providing examples and analysis of the words, phrases and verbal concepts of the perpetrators and their victims. The title, "Lexicon of Terror," could not have been chosen better for seemingly neutural words like "process" and "change" and dozend of others are shown to have been corrupted intellectually so that the physical corruption which followed was almost inevitable.
The book combines three disciplines that are rarely treated in the same volume, much less understood by the same person. But history, lexicography, and journalism are intertwined to such a degree that the blend is complete.
The author, in her low key style, deals with occurances and happenings that for most of us would cry out for justice. But by limiting her treatment to understanding the problem, she is even more effective on motivating the reader to search for soloution.
Most of us are familiar with the phrase that knowledge is power, but this relatively short book is a great example of the power (in this case for evil) of language. The reader will never look at partisan political dialogue in the same way again.
One annoying feature is terribly small type, so those who need reading glasses, do not forget them. The rest of the work is brilliant and terrible in the literal meaning of the word, which is what makes it so wonderful, thoudh disconcerting and depressing as well.
Reading this volume is a must for anyone who loves and respects language, freedom, and human rights for you will learn how intertwined they can be.
Rating: 5
Summary: A thorough depiction of the atmosphere of repression
Comment: What really struck me about this book was how well Maruerite Feitlowitz captured the subtleties of the effects terror and repression had on the Argentine population. For example, she discusses how a popular women's magazine, Para Ti, incorporated pro-Proceso rhetoric and even military-inspired fashion into its message during the war. The book is based extensively on first-person testimonials, many of which come from interviews conducted by Feitlowitz herself. Two chapters I found especially revealing dealt with the failure of Jewish leadership to defend its people during the crisis, and with the crippling effect of repression on one rural agrarian league. Two minor complaints: There was little discussion of the systematic repression of union leaders, which intended to (and succeeded in) severely weakening labor's role in Argentina. Also, at least in the paperback version, the print was tiny! If your eyes are getting weak, reading glasses are a must!
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Title: The Little School: Tales of Disappearance & Survival in Argentina by Alicia Partnoy, Lois Athey, Saundra Braunstein ISBN: 1573440299 Publisher: Cleis Press Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A History of Argentina in the Twentieth Century by Luis Alberto Romero, James P. Brennan ISBN: 0271021926 Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (Txt) Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
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Title: Reading the Holocaust by Inga Clendinnen ISBN: 0521012694 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 02 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Flight: Confessions of an Argentine Dirty Warrior by Horacio Verbitsky, Esther Allen, Juan Mendez ISBN: 1565840097 Publisher: New Press Pub. Date: August, 1996 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk by Palden Gyatso, Palden Gyatso, Tsering Shakya, Dalai Lama, Palden ISBN: 0802135749 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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