José Donoso Yáñez was a Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an writer. He lived most of his life in Chile, although he spent many years in self-imposed exile

Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...

 in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 (Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

) and mainly Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. Although he had left his country in the sixties for personal reasons, after 1973 he claimed his exile was also a form of protest against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet

Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...

. He returned to Chile in 1981 and lived there until his death.

Donoso is the author of a number of remarkable stories and novels, which contributed greatly to the Latin American literary boom

Latin American Boom

The Latin American Boom was a literary movement of the 1960s and 1970s when the work of a group of relatively young Latin American novelists became widely circulated in Europe and throughout the world...

. The term 'Boom' was coined in his 1972 essay Historia personal del "boom". His best known works include the novels Coronación, El lugar sin límites

El lugar sin límites

Hell Has No Limits is a 1966 novel written by Chilean José Donoso. The novel tells the story of a bordello, and details the prostitutes' way of life. The main character is Manuela, the transvestite who owns the bordello. A number of other memorable characters are introduced...

(The Place Without Limits) and El obsceno pájaro de la noche (The Obscene Bird of Night

The Obscene Bird of Night

The Obscene Bird of Night is the most acclaimed novel by the Chilean writer José Donoso...

). His works deal with a number of themes, including sexuality

Human sexuality

Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...

, the duplicity of identity, psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

, and a sense of dark humor.

After his death, his personal papers at the University of Iowa revealed his homosexuality; a revelation that caused a certain controversy in Chile.

English

• The self in the narratives of José Donoso : Chile, 1924-1996 / Mary Lusky Friedman., 2004
• The veracity of disguise in selected works of José Donoso : illusory deception / Brent J Carbajal., 2000
• José Donoso's house of fiction : a dramatic construction of time and place / Flora María González Mandri., 1995
• Understanding José Donoso / Sharon Magnarelli., 1993
• Studies on the works of José Donoso : an anthology of critical essays / Miriam Adelstein., 1990
• José Donoso, the "boom" and beyond / Philip Swanson., 1988
• The creative process in the works of José Donoso / Guillermo I Castillo-Feliú., 1982
• José Donoso (Twayne's World Authors Series) / George R McMurray., 1979

Spanish

• Racionalidad e imaginación : transposiciones del cuerpo y de la mente en los cuentos de José Donoso / Sergio Véliz., 2001
• Las últimas obras de José Donoso : juegos, roles y rituales en la subversión del poder / Michael Colvin., 2001
• Donoso sin límites / Carlos Cerda., 1997
• José Donoso, escritura y subversión del significado / Laura A Chesak., 1997
• José Donoso : desde el texto al metatexto / Enrique Luengo., 1992
• El simbolismo en la obra de José Donoso / Augusto C Sarrochi., 1992
• José Donoso, impostura e impostación / Ricardo Gutiérrez Mouat., 1983
• José Donoso : incursiones en su producción novelesca / Myrna Solotorevsky., 1983
• Ideología y estructuras narrativas en José Donoso, 1950-1970 / Hugo Achugar., 1979
• José Donoso : una insurrección contra la realidad / Isis Quinteros., 1978
• José Donoso : la destrucción de un mundo / José Promis Ojeda., 1975

External links

• memoriachilena.cl Donoso, José