SOURCE: Castillo-Feliú, Guillermo I. “Aesthetic Impetus Versus Reality in Three Stories of José Donoso.” Studies in Short Fiction 17, no. 2 (spring 1980): 133-39.

In the following essay, Castillo-Feliú examines three short stories by Donoso, concluding that the creative deterioration of the characters is influenced less by the outer circumstances of Chile's deterioration than by an inner sense that creativity does not provide an escape from reality.

With the publication of his first story in Spanish titled “China” in 1954, José Donoso began a writing career which up to now includes a total of fourteen short stories, five novels and three novelle. Although all fourteen short stories appeared between 1954 and 1962, they provide a firm thematic foundation for the longer narratives which have been published between 1957 and 1978. The critic who is familiar with Donoso's prose fiction as a whole is aware that certain themes and character types are consistently treated by the author...