Empire's Old Clothes

by Ariel Dorfman

Argues that popular culture, in books, comics, and magazines, reflects reactionary values and looks at examples in the United States and Chile

Genres: Nonfiction, Cultural, Cultural Studies, Politics, History, Psychology

225 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 1983

About the author

Vladimiro Ariel Dorfman is an Argentine-Chilean novelist, playwright, essayist, academic, and human rights activist. A citizen of the United States since 2004, he has been a professor of literature and Latin American Studies at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina since 1985.

Reviews

[Pedro · Rating 2 out of 5]

La narración del adolescente Gabriel McKinlay parece corresponderse con la visión del autor, que no recurre a ningún truco para poner en evidencia su inmadurez. La idea general, más que desopilante parece artificiosa; hay momentos muy promisorios, y hasta potencial para una comedia de enredos. Pero la prosa excesiva y cierto intento pedagógico terminan ahogándola, hasta un final, desde afuera, con un mensaje de guardián en el centeno, y un estilo del evangelio de Saramago. Poco.

Me interesé por Dorfman, porque había leído que, en su carácter de crítico literario en EEUU, había acuñado el término Boom Latinoamericano en el década de 1960, en el que se incluía inicialmente una media docena de autores (después se fue expandiendo). No encontré que el brillo alcanzado como influencer temprano se correspondiera con la calidad literaria de este libro.

[iasmin · Rating 1 out of 5]

só pode ser dívida de jogo? a única coisa bacana nesse livro são os comentários sobre o chile pré-allende e pós-allende fora isso parecia que eu tava lendo um +18 de uma fanfiqueira de twitter fiquei chocada até tamanha coragem

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an impressive set of essays exploring the politics of children's literature and of childhood - with the essays on Barbar & colonialism and on the infantilisation of the adult reader remaining classic (if in the later case highly contested) pieces of work - but alas the whole collections suffers in comparison to Dorfman's co-authored How to read Donald Duck, and classic of anti-imperialist literary and political/cultural analysis.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This made a real impact upon me in the 1980s. Dorfman is fascinating.
The perspective of a Chilean expat, a veteran of the regime of Salvador Allende, informs his cultural criticism.
Read this to reconsider assumptions about our children's literature and pop culture. Then follow up with his (earlier, amazing) How to Read Donald Duck.
Oh, I know, he's written plays and fiction; but this is what strikes me where I live.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este é daqui livros que li há muitos, muitos anos e que me ficou sempre na memória. Ainda hoje se quero ir ao Chile não é porque me lembre de algum pormenor particularmente fascinante que gostaria de conhecer, mas porque o espírito deste livro em específico me atraiu para aquela cultura. Tudo o que retenho deste livro é uma ideia vaga e difusa, como um calor no estômago que se possa sentir quando se bebe um espesso chocolate quente sentado num iceberg. Isso e as conquistas sexuais do pai da personagem principal, que se a memória não me atraiçoa tem como missão suprema dormir com uma mulher diferente a cada dia da sua vida, sem nunca repetir nenhuma excepto a mãe do seu filho (que não entra para as contas, portanto mesmo que durma com ela tem de arranjar outra nesse dia). Quando voltar a ler este livro se calhar a minha visão vai ser muito diferente daquela que tinha na 1ª metade da minha adolescência, mas não tenho dúvidas de que gostarei de visitar as suas personagens excêntricas, como se de velhos amigos se tratassem.

[Marcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dorfman's book becomes a bit less intriguing as it moves forward. I had expected the book to be much more about how soft power operates through children's literature, like the Babar stories, and then touch a bit on how adult texts like Reader's Digest functions in that realm, especially outside the U.S. and Europe. There are moments when Dorfman touches on these aspects, but his writing rambles and doesn't hone in on the damage these sorts of imperial texts can and do function in tangible ways--except for the last chapter of the book when he goes into children's literature in Chile leading up to the 1973 coup.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is the classic essay about Babar and colonization of third world countries. I also enjoyed the essay about Reader's Digest. In general, this author makes his point too many times, but they are important points, especially from a Chilean professor who lived through the Allende period. I have to confess I skimmed the essay on the Lone Ranger, maybe because he was long ago defrocked as a hero in my childhood nightmare by Cruella deVille....

[Eddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Encontré un poco exagerada la cantidad de vueltas en las últimas 100 páginas, teorías que desarolla el narrador, pero hasta allí las páginas pasaron volando....aunque ya existían demasiados libros latinoamericanos de los '70 y '80 que jugaban con las ancianas brujas, relaciones incestuosas, el machismo, etcétera...realmente era necesario otro?

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

The intersection of popular culture and politics provides fertile ground for Ariel Dorfman's exploration of some of our cultural icons... And why does the Lone Ranger wear that mask anyway?

[Deidre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't meet my expectations, maybe because I had heard about his analysis from other sources and wasn't wowed.

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have the feeling that if had read this 25 years ago it would have blown my mind.

[Lianne Ramsden · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not get into this at all and had to put it down after about 70 pages.

[Cherie · Rating 1 out of 5]

If we hadn't been reading this for bookclub, I never would have finished it. I found the main character annoying and unlikeable, which is a book killer for me.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good read. I have a lot of respect for the author but this horse get beat to death a few times too many

[Ogden Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

The open-ended ending is a nice touch.

[Get Booked Fans]

Episode 139:
5. Hi Amanda and Jenn,
I have listened to you from day 1 and enjoy your podcast a lot. I wrote once before but it was roughly 120 podcasts ago so I think I might be cleared to ask again.
Our immigration policy is clearly a long standing human rights violation and I hate it but I also feel really uninformed on what might be better so I’m looking for books. There are countries many of these asylum seekers are from (Honduras and El Salvador are referenced a lot) and I vaguely know the US has interfered in Central/Latin American countries over the years. My working assumption is we have contributed to the socio-economic issues but I’d like to be more informed on the history and what might be done to better stabilize the region. Additionally I’d like to read about how we as a country could have a more open and humane immigration system that didn’t cage families and add to their trauma.
I’ve tried some googling but it isn’t working and while I’d love to go around tweeting at smart people asking them to help me that might be rude.
Thanks!
–Katie
Recommended by: Jenn