The Terrible Children of José Donoso

Abstract

This research analyzes the connotations of childhood and filiation in the novels by José Donoso, in particular, in Coronación (1957), Este domingo (1966), El obsceno pájaro de la noche (1979) and Casa de campo (1978). From the analysis of this corpus, we have been able to verify that the children in their novels (1) are presented as carriers of an antigenalogical affection; (2) they catalyze terrors and paranoid fantasies associated with the loss of individuality and the privilege of enunciating identity; and (3) they operate as aberrant contact points that erode the boundaries between realms, strata, and territories.