Matrimonio a la chilena.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

Matrimonio a la chilena, by Elizabeth Subercaseaux. Santiago: Alfaguara, 1997.

Elizabeth Subercaseaux's acerbic, insightful commentary on marriage in Chile should really be called Divorcio a la chilena because it deals primarily with the turmoil of separation. A novelistic account of the engagement, wedding, union, and breakup of Catalina Zanartu and Caleco Echenique set against the backdrop of the political upheavals of the early seventies, Subercaseaux's book is both hilarious and gut wrenching. While poking fun at her characters' obsession with appearances and social standing, the author suggests an eerie parallel between the tyranny threatening the country and authoritarianism permeating the Echenique household.

The introduction employs an age-old and highly effective literary technique: an insider elucidates the intricacies of his society to a newcomer, who responds in disbelief. At a bar in the Hotel Carrera, Roberto, an upper-class Chilean, explains to Ludwig, his German client, how divorce works in Chile. To begin with, there is no legal divorce. In Chile, Roberto explains, marriage is sacred and cannot be dissolved. However, if there is no way to salvage the union, the couple has recourse to a procedure called nulidad matrimonial, a trick that annuls a marriage in about a half hour. Husband and wife simply swear that the marriage was not celebrated before the appropriate Civil Registry. And financial protection for the wife and kids?, the German wants to know. It's the husband's prerogative to decide how much he wants to give them, Roberto explains. And if the wife won't go along with the annulment? A good lawyer can break her will, Roberto assures him. The trick is simply to refuse to provide any money at all for the family until she agrees to go along. Roberto runs off to meet his girlfriend (although his wife is waiting and home), while Ludwig begins talking to a woman at the bar--Catalina Zanartu--who paints a different picture of divorce, Chilean style.

The funniest part of the story deals with the elaborate preparations for Catalina's wedding. Caleco Echenique is the catch of the century. The bright, handsome, hardworking son of a rich politician, he is the crime of Chilean high society. Catalina's family simply must put on a good show. The church, the flowers, the dresses, the invitations...