Ochet9s Chile

PERIODICALS ARTS & LETTERS Boston literary journals. Yet Emerson became so popular in later years that attending one of his lectures was quite fashionable. For example, the Cincinnati Daily Commercial reported in 1867 that an Emerson lecture attracted "the most elegant assemblages we remember to have seen on any occasion in this city." Why did Emerson's reputation soar? The answer, says Cayton, visiting assistant professor of interdisciplinary studies at Miami University of Ohio, lies both in Emerson's writing and in the changing nature of the American lyceum movement. Lyceums became popular during the 1830s as an early form of adult education. By the 1850s, they had been superseded by "literary societies," which provided single young men with social alternatives to the tavern and the theater. Society members were always interested in developing self- reliance, largely as a way to increase their chances of success in the busi- ness world. Emerson's interest in the nature of correct conduct and indi- vidual achievement thus paralleled, on a more philosophical level, the interests of much of his audience. Although Emerson lectured on a wide variety of subjects, audiences skipped his more abstruse discussions, preferring such practical topics as "Eloquence" and "The Conduct of Life." Emerson salted these lectures with "concrete and homely metaphors," but did not dilute his transcenden- talist philosophy. His style kept audiences mystified. Emerson "don't say at all-he hints or intimates or walks around about what he would say but don't say," future president Rutherford B. Hayes wrote to a friend after attending an 1850 lecture. Yet by the late 1850s, Emerson's success on the lecture circuit was assured. Audiences absorbed his work as "intellectual treats," Cayton notes, thinking Emerson an archetypal "embodiment of Man Thinking." Midwestern newspapers, representing young, self-conscious cities, increasingly supported Emerson's lectures as a way to show that their cities were as cultured as those on the Eastern Seaboard. By the time of his final lecture in 1871, critics ignored his speech and reviewed audience reaction. The applause," the Chicago Tribune reported, "bespoke the culture of the audience." "The people," Cayton concludes, liked Emerson "because he did their thinking for them." OTHER NATIONS Chile "Going to Extremes" by Mark Falcoff, in The ochet9s New Republic (Sept. 7, 1987), 1220 19th St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. Eight years ago, the only democracies in South America were Colombia and Venezuela. Since then, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and four other Latin nations have joined the list. Why does Chile, a once-prosperous nation with a strong democratic WQ NEW YEAR'S 1988 36 PERIODICALS OTHER NATIONS tradition, remain a military dictatorship? Falcoff, a visiting fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, suggests that Chile's political difficulties stem from intractable economic problems, never solved by the Right or the Left. "In spite of their wide ideological and political differences," he argues, "all three of the last Chilean presidents have failed to produce the kind of economic result they promised." After General Augusto Pinochet overthrew Socialist president Salva- dor Allende in 1973, Chile "became a great laboratory of neoconservative economics." Under the direction of University of Chicago-trained econo- mists such as Sergio de Castro (economy minister), some welfare spending was reduced and Chile's markets were opened to foreign goods. Nevertheless, Chile's economy never became as market-oriented as that of the United States. One example: Between 1978 and 1983, the currency was artificially pegged at a low rate of 39 pesos to the dollar. Predictably, the middle class went on a buying spree, purchasing foreign goods and accumulating large dollar-denominated debts. When the peso was finally devalued, those debts jumped 20 to 30 percent overnight. These personal debts, combined with public sector borrowing, the four- fold increase in the cost of foreign oil, and a fall in the world price of copper, caused the collapse of the Chilean economy in 1983, leading to a resurgence of political unrest. In his efforts to maintain control, Pinochet has increasingly resorted to statist measures, including the purchase of stock in banks that failed after 1983. Falcoff asserts that Pinochet's Chile, while still capitalist, increasingly resembles the corporatist regime of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, "in which economics were ruthlessly subordinated to consider- ations of political power." And with turbulence likely to accompany a plebi- scite (anticipated to be held in September 1988) that will determine whether Pinochet will remain in power, there is little chance that Chile's troubled economy will revive in the near future. of "The Virtue of Japanese Mothers: Cultural Defi- The en mHII nitions of Women's Lives" by Merry White, in Daedalus (Summer 1987), 136 hgSt., Cam- bridge, Mass. 02138. It is difficult for American feminists to see Japanese women as being "lib- erated" or "fulfilled" in the Western sense, says White, associate professor of sociology at Boston University. In modem Japan, to be a ryosai kembo (good wife and wise mother) is still the goal of most women. In the typical middle-class family, husband and wife operate in separate spheres: he, a "salaryman," works outside the home, while she raises the children (1.7 per family) and manages the household. Since dissatisfied wives are urged to gambaru (persist) rather than to confront or leave their husbands, there are only 1.09 divorces for every 1000 Japanese (versus five per 1000 Americans). The Japanese okusan (housewife) sees her domestic role as valuable, and most Japanese agree. The national consensus, White explains, is that Japan's future will be determined by its children, and "the nation's most WQ NEW YEAR'S 1988 37 .

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