Character and Action in José Donoso’s Fiction

Abstract José Donoso’s fiction was often interpreted as an amazing example of literary technique, but also as an expression of its author’s capacity of creating incredible characters involved in numerous actions that permanently challenges the reader. In his well-known novel The Obscene Bird of Night (1970), his most famous writing, the Chilean author evaluates the relationship between imagination and reality in a human universe dominated by violence and death. In this context, Humberto Peñaloza’s attempt to compile the history of Azcoitía family represents not only the desperate attempt of an intellectual to emphasize the importance of the written word, but also a clear hint to the Latin American realities of the previous centuries.