SOURCE: "Superhistory," in London Review of Books, Vol. 12, No. 23, December 6, 1990, pp. 24-6.

[In the following review, Parrinder lauds Donoso's Curfew, saying the art is "richly crafted" and that the novel "remains an enchanted space," despite faulting the book for its reliance on history, and for problems in the translation.]

All novels are historical novels, as my late teacher Graham Hough used to say; but some are more historical than others. Novelists can improve on history, and if they are Science Fiction writers they can anticipate it. History can be invented, but most novelists only do so within strict limits. According to Hough, they would tend to invent a Prime Minister but not a major political party, a provincial town but not a capital city. A writer like Joyce can put together an immensely painstaking reconstruction of the past without linking it in any way to a historical narrative...