José Donoso Digital Archive

José Donoso (1924–1996) was a writer known for psychologically rich and symbolically charged narratives that incisively explored the social tensions and cultural anxieties of his time. He authored several landmark novels of 20th-century Latin American literature, including El lugar sin límites (1966), El obsceno pájaro de la noche (1970), and Casa de campo (1978), among others. Donoso also delved into self-referential writing with works like Historia personal del boom (1972) and Conjeturas sobre la memoria de mi tribu (1996).

Donoso’s relationship with his native Chile was complex and ambivalent. While deeply rooted in his homeland, he often found its cultural environment restrictive and at odds with his creative ambitions, prompting extended periods abroad. Deeply committed to documenting his personal and literary life, Donoso carefully preserved his manuscripts, papers, and other materials—a testament to his enduring engagement with the craft of writing.

Thanks to a collaboration between Princeton University Library and Universidad Diego Portales (UDP), the José Donoso Digital Archive now offers researchers and the public digital access to his diaries, photographs, and other unique documents. This growing digital collection ensures broader access to Donoso’s legacy as more materials are digitized and made available.

The José Donoso Digital Archive opens up new opportunities to study the author's work and life, revealing previously unpublished details about his creative process and his interaction with the social and literary environment of his time. The archive is a living space, open to new logics of approaching a writer: new authorial skins, as Javier Guerrero, Professor in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese at Princeton University, calls them. José Donoso's archives not only preserve his legacy, but also enrich the perspectives for approaching his work, his biography, and his era. They have made possible the appearance of previously unknown texts and encouraged significant rereading's of his writing and personality, a task that, considering the dimensions of his archive, is just beginning.

José Donoso photograph credit: Gabriel Pérez Mardones