Violence and the Masks of Monsters in José Donoso’s Fiction

Abstract

In his well-known novel The Obscene Bird of Night (El obsceno pájaro de la noche, 1970) Chilean writer José Donoso analyzed the progressive decay of the old and illustrious family of Jerónimo de Azcoitía, but also the general degradation of Chilean society. Nevertheless, the novel implies a symbolic and allegoric level as such: the author discusses, in a direct or subtextual manner, the implications of the masks within the modern world and the meanings of the monstrous creatures populating the hypnotic universe of Rinconada, imagined and made up by Jerónimo in order to shelter and hide his son, Boy. The monsters prove to be different versions of human identity and they also mark the process of modern alienation, expressing the terror determined by the violence in the Latin American world of the 20th century. KEYWORDS: Latin American Literature, Fiction, Identity, Mask, Monster, Violence.