Contents and Arrangement
Online

Notebook 38, 1968 April 12-1969 March 30

1 folder

Collection Overview

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

433 pages [substantial error in pagination between pages 241 and 342]. Dates and locations, 1968 April 12-1969 March 30; Puerto de Pollensa, Spain (pp. 1-401, 408-417) on the plane to New York and in Denver, Colorado (pp. 401-408) Vallvidrera, Spain (pp. 417-433).

Notebook on El obsceno pájaro de la noche. Character analyses, discussion of the relations between the main characters, and of the content and sequence of episodes. After completing a draft of the novel's sixth part, the author works on a second version up to its important fourth part. The novel's length and the schedule for its completion are constant preoccupations as the author looks ahead to a third and final draft. Comments of a personal nature indicate the circumstances and the tensions which lead to a nervous breakdown. The notebook covers periods of intense work and intense inactivity, and it records contrasting moods.

Themes, nostalgia, 20, 43; self-effacement, 46, 63; witnesses, 62, 241; imagination and enslavement, 63; fear, 67, 106; divine kinship, 74; ideal characters, 85; anarchy, 90, 94, 172; voyeurism, 91-92; God and Satan, 92; reality and imagination, 108; the "imbunche", 115-117, 118; escape, 116; Tiresias, 116, 119; disguise, 230, 344; the other side, 347, 424; envy and admiration, 353; confused identities, 354; thematic compendium, 354; impotence, 362, 377; old women, 384.

Characters, Humberto (el Mudo); Boy; don Jerónimo; la madre Benita; Brígida; Inés; Iris; Rita; Peta Ponce; Sofía; Leonor; Damiana; el padre Azócar; Eliana; el padre (de Humberto); don Clemente; Emperatriz; Mercedes Barroso; Tito; la niña bruja-santa; Rita; María Benítez; Dora; Amalia; Rosa Pérez; Aniceto; Romualdo; la madre Anselma; doña María Lamas.

Character Sketches, la madre Benita, 8-9, 183; Humberto, 11-12, 77, 115-117, 210- 211; Inés, 153-154, 387.

References, G. García Márquez, 3, 6, 67, 404; J. Swift, 5, 11; I. Dinesen, 5, 344; C. Fuentes, 6, 368, 374, 404; G. B. Piranesi, 10; A. J. A. Symons, 12; J. Dos Passos, 14; E. Sábato, 15, 18; Encyclopaedists, 17; E. Kant, 17; T. S. Eliot, 17, 119; Lope de Vega, 22; F. de Rojas, 22; M. Graham, 68, 72, 81, 157; J. Lezama Lima, 77, 171, 195; W. Faulkner, 85; W. Gombrowicz, 39, 191; the Bible, 108; E. Pound, 119; Brueghel, 168; [M.] Sennett, 343; M. Vargas Llosa, 368, 374; Y. Mishima, 382; L. Durrell, 386.

Secondary Projects, notes for an address, 100; a novel about exiles, 172; a lecture on several Latin American writers, 374, 393-396; an untitled novel, 385-386; a book of essays, 392.

Miscellaneous, references to narrative techniques and stylistic aspects, 6, 14, 58, 75-76, 91, 93, 96, 352; consideration of alternative titles for the novel, 56-58, 61, 65, 192, 343, 384, 385, 422; thoughts on mythical versus legendary time, 76; financial considerations, 158-163, 370-374, 380, 390-392, 403; a list of real and imaginary characters in the novel, 166; speculations about the reception of the novel and its possible translations and editions, 195, 196, 368, 392; a list of the novels the author plans to teach at a university, 379; discussion of the possibility of including the author's nervous breakdown in the novel, 419 ff; discussion of the novel's three main strands, 424; references to the method of work, 432; drawing of a female face and a list of twenty-eight novels, final unnumbered pages.

Arrangement

Arranged by no. of notebook.

Collection History

Custodial History

The collection was formed as a result of a departmental practice of combining into one collection manuscript material of various accessions relating to a particular author.

Appraisal

No appraisal information is available.

Processing Information

The core of this collection was processed by Rodolfo Aiello in 1993. Finding aid written by Rodolfo Aiello in 1994 and later updated by Karla Vecchia in 2004.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Credit this material:

Notebook 38; José Donoso Papers, C0099, Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Location:
Firestone Library
One Washington Road
Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
(609) 258-3184
Storage Note:
  • Firestone Library (mss): Box 56

Find More

Related Materials

See also the José Donoso Papers at the University of Iowa ( http,//www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc350/MsC340_Donoso/Donoso_340.htm).