A new writing assignment has me with José Donoso in the brain. All articles I requested and his book Hell Has No Limits all came in today like a spring force. I’ve been interested in Donoso since I read the short story “Ana Maria” years ago in an ethnic lit course. And now I have the opportunity to write about him and his amazing novel. I have 30 days and counting to complete my assignment and a last-minute change in plans has me rethinking my original idea–at first I had a creative piece drafted and believed that to be my assignment. I drafted “Bruna’s Hell” a week or so ago and hoped to mangle that into the assignment for AQC but don’t believe that possible anymore. Now I think this piece needs to be an analysis of form–frame stories within frame stories and also omniscient narration speaking and representing the impoverished and peripheral in Mexican culture.
Here is an interview I found on Donoso’s Obscene Bird of Night:
I just finished “Ana María” and must say, I sat stunned for quite a while after I had finished it. Such a marvelous writer. I’ll be reading one of his novels soon, and I hope it is as good.
Cheers.
Richard, Thanks for stopping by my Writing and Teaching weblog. I would recommend Hell Has No Limits. His work has a surreal edge that I admire.
Thanks foor the post