Jose Donoso (1924-1996) was a Chilean writer, journalist and teacher who excelled in the field of literature for the passionate and obsessive way in which he exposed his life in his works. This intellectual was one of the many authors who belonged to the well-known “Latin American boom” that emerged in the sixties..
José Donoso's literary production was characterized by encompassing various genres, including poetry, novels and short stories. The writer used a simple and easily understood language, while the content of his works was original, creative and full of autobiographical experiences..
Some of his most outstanding works were: Coronation, The place without limits, The obscene bird of the night Y Cottage. In them, the author developed the themes of violence, fear and intolerance.
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José Donoso Yáñez was born on October 5, 1924 in the city of Santiago de Chile. The author came from a cultured family with a high socioeconomic level. His parents were the doctor José Donoso Donoso and Alicia Yáñez. In addition, Donoso was a relative of the journalist and founder of the newspaper The nation, Eliodoro Yáñez, who was his mother's uncle.
José Donoso studied his first years at The Grange School. There he made friends with Carlos Fuentes (writer and diplomat) and with Luis Alberto Heiremans (playwright).
Later, Donoso entered the José Victorino Lastarria High School to complete his training. After finishing high school, he decided to live new experiences and achieve some financial independence..
In 1942 he left his home and went to the south of Chile to work tending sheep. Some time later, José ventured to visit Patagonia (Argentina) where he worked as a truck driver's assistant.
Later, the impetuous Donoso arrived in the Argentine capital and there he worked as a clerk in the port. José Donoso returned to his country after two years of absence to continue his academic training.
Once settled back in Chile, Donoso began studying English literature at the Pedagogical Institute. Later, he obtained a scholarship from the Doherty Foundation to carry out a specialization in the United States. This is how in 1949 he began studies of English philology at the prestigious Princeton University..
The years that Donoso lived in the United States served him to break through in the field of literature. In such a way that he had the opportunity to publish his first stories in the magazine MSS between 1950 and 1951. The stories were: "The blue woman" and "The poisoned pastries", both written in English.
José Donoso returned to Chile in 1952. At that time he began his work as an English teacher. He taught at the Kent School. In addition, the writer taught English literature at the University of Chile, specifically at the Pedagogical Institute.
On the other hand, the author released his first book of short stories in Spanish Summer and other stories in 1955. This work was well received by critics and the public. So much was the impact of that text that Donoso won the Santiago Municipal Prize in 1956.
José Donoso's vocation and talent for narrative led him to publish his first novel Coronation in 1957. In this work the writer portrayed the coming to less of the families of the high society of the Chilean capital. Over the years the work became one of the most important and representative of this Chilean intellectual.
Still in his nascent career as a writer, José Donoso found a space to give way to love and in 1961 he married the painter María Ester Serrano, whom he met in Buenos Aires a year earlier. The couple became inseparable until the end of their days. They had no biological children, so they adopted a girl named Pilar.
The Chilean writer spent about seventeen years outside of his country, lived between Mexico, the United States and Spain. Donoso arrived in Mexico in December 1964 invited by the Inter-American Foundation for the Arts to attend a congress. There he spent a good time with the writer and diplomat Carlos Fuentes, his childhood friend..
Later, the writer moved to the United States. At that time he brought to light his novel The place without limits in 1966 and, a year later, the author went to live in Spain. He lived there until 1981, time in which he had the opportunity to connect with important personalities of literature and art, including Luis Buñuel..
Donoso achieved literary growth between the seventies and eighties, where he published several of his most outstanding works. Among them they deserve mention The obscene bird of the night, Three bourgeois novels, Personal history of the boom, Country house Y The garden next door.
He returned to Chile in 1981 after more than a decade of absence. The writer was integrated into the literary life of the country through the creation of a workshop attended by important intellectuals of the time. On the other hand, the author expressed his displeasure against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
This opposition caused him to be imprisoned on January 31, 1985 for his intervention in a political committee in which several personalities participated. He spent a short time locked up and once released, the writer continued the development of his literary work.
The Chilean writer spent the last years of his life between literature, travel and awards. Some of his most current publications were: Four for Delfina, Taratuta, still life with hookah Y Where the elephants will die. Donoso received several awards, including the Gabriela Mistral Order of Educational and Cultural Merit.
José Donoso died on December 7, 1996 at his home in Santiago de Chile as a result of liver disease. His remains rest in the Petorca cemetery in the Valparaíso region.
José Donoso's literary style was characterized by describing in a descriptive way the realities of life, including his own. The writer focused on developing themes related to the existence of man and at the same time detailing the characteristics of the society of his time.
Its most common theme was violence, inequality and intolerance. The author used simple and precise language. However, his works were loaded with depth, creativity and originality..
On the other hand, the literary production of this Chilean writer was influenced by authors such as: Truman Capote, Henry James and Charles Dickens.
In this video you can see a brief interview with Donoso:
- "The blue woman" (1950).
- "The poisoned pastries" (1951).
- "China" (1954).
- "Summer".
- "Tocayos".
- "Big party".
- "El güero".
- "Dinamarquero".
- "Two cards".
- "A lady".
- "Ana Maria".
- "The little man".
- "The little man".
- "Ana Maria".
- "The Charleston".
- "The closed door".
- "Ride".
- "Santelices".
- "Santelices".
- "China".
- "The little man".
- "Ride".
- "Ana Maria".
- "The closed door".
- "The Charleston".
- "The dinamarquero".
- "Two cards".
- "Big party".
- "A lady".
- "El güero".
- "Tocayos".
- "Summer".
- Coronation (1957).
- This Sunday (1966).
- The place without limits (1966).
- The obscene bird of the night (1970).
- Three bourgeois novels (1973). The work was made up of:
- "Chatanooga choochoo".
- "Green atom number five".
- "Gaspard de la nuit".
- Cottage (1978).
- The mysterious disappearance of the marquesita de loria (1980).
- The garden next door (nineteen eighty one).
- Four for Delfina (1982). Work composed of:
"Crummy dreams".
"The inhabitants of an unfinished ruin".
"The lost time".
"Jolie Madame".
- Hopelessness (1986).
- Taratuta, still life with hookah (1990).
- Where the elephants will die (nineteen ninety five).
- The mocho (posthumous edition, 1997).
- Tailless lizard (posthumous edition, 2007).
- Personal history of the boom (1972).
- Guesses about the memory of my tribe (nineteen ninety six).
- Poems of a novelist (nineteen eighty one).
- Items of uncertain need (posthumous edition, 1998).
- The intrusive writer. Articles, chronicles and interviews (posthumous edition, 2004).
- Diaries, essays, chronicles. The kitchen of writing (posthumous edition, 2009).
- Early diaries. Donoso in progress, 1950-1965 (posthumous edition, 2016).
- Story of a single oak or Story of an old oak (1982). Film directed by Silvio Caiozzi, based in turn on the story "Los robles de la plaza".
- The moon in the mirror (1990). Written jointly with Silvio Caiozzi, who directed the film.
This novel was the first that Donoso published, in which he reflected the fall of the upper social classes of Chile in the mid-twentieth century. The author developed the narrative work in the midst of a sordid, tense, opaque environment that at the same time gave the feeling of confinement. It was a story of love, heartbreak, infidelity, control and obsession.
“The bird soon got tired of flying over them. Towards the west, twilight would soon toast the blue freshness of the air, and René and Dora were surely not the only couple who took advantage of the extraordinary autumn to love each other in the open air ...
“… He then flew towards the hill, circling for a long time over it, the aerial map of the city already gilding in the tiny beads of his eyes. Below, the infinity of couples who had come to the hill from different neighborhoods after wandering through streets and Sunday parks, waited, already tired, for the cold of the afternoon to finally break the balance of the air, indicating the time to leave ... ".
This work is considered one of the most important and well-known of José Donoso, being the fourth novel that he released. The story was surrounded by mystery, terror, rarity, and various mythological elements. The story revolved around a father who created a special environment to minimize his son's deformities.
"Of course not, it is useless. You sit on the edge of your bed and cover your face with your hands, while Misiá Raquel listens to you in awe because you are inventing things, Inés, you have always been fabulous, you have the vocation of an old woman, it is just a matter of allowing the old woman to emerge and take over of you,…
“… That's why my Raquel listens to you sitting very stiff in her chair with her purse in her lap, firmly grasped with both hands because neither she nor anyone else can believe you that until your age you had blood every month, dirty and regular blood that I I enslaved like a little girl, at my age, as if it were God's punishment for some horrible thing that I did and that I don't remember ... ".
- "Old age grants the privilege of saying things that don't mean anything".
- “I am my obesity. I will never stoop to dieting, my motto is: fat is beauty ".
- "It is very likely that the literary awards were created by some sarcastic demiurge to underline the laugh with which time takes revenge on certainties".
- "Death is the lack of language".
- "What right have you not to feel the cold that is breaking my bones?"
- "Life is made of fragments and one can hardly bring them together".
- "Novel is to think with the pen".
- “Do you think God is an idiot? Do you think that God prefers that I take him away in the churches listening to the nonsense that the priests speak and wasting my time, instead of going to teach these poor women to delouse their children? ".
- "But don't you see that every life, every creation in whatever field, every act of love, is nothing more than an act of rebellion against extinction, no matter whether it is true or false, whether it gives results or not? ".
- "The terrible thing is hope".
- "Things that end give peace and things that do not change begin to end, they are always ending".
- "I would like to have a place to return not to return but to have it, nothing more".
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