José Donoso Critical Essay | José Donoso

Critical Review by Antonio Benitez Rojo

SOURCE: "The Obscene Bird of Night as a Spiritual Exercise," in Review of Contemporary Fiction, Vol. XII, No. 2, Summer, 1992, pp. 50-5.

[In the following essay, Rojo defends his idea that The Obscene Bird of Night can be read as a spiritual exercise in which the reader imagines an experience of self-annihilation. Rojo asserts that this experience represents a grappling with death, and is similar to religious observances such as Lent, Sabbath, or Ramadan.]

From time to time, in accordance with the prescription of the majority of the world's religions, all believers must perform a ritual of self-annihilation. This has to do, of course, with the enactment of death. Accordingly, practices such as fasting, sexual abstinence, physical penitence, silence, worldly withdrawal, and meditation often play a role. In general, these practices not only limit to a greater or lesser degree the natural appetites of the body, but also affect...
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