The Obscene Bird of Night

E97608

The Obscene Bird of Night is a landmark Chilean novel by José Donoso, renowned for its dark, labyrinthine narrative and its exploration of identity, madness, and social decay within the Latin American literary canon.

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Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf literary work
novel
author José Donoso NERFINISHED
centralTheme body and deformity
class conflict
identity
madness
marginalization
power and oppression
religion and superstition
social decay
countryOfOrigin Chile NERFINISHED
criticalReception acclaimed by literary critics
explores fragmentation of self
intersection of myth and reality
unreliable memory
genre Latin American literature
gothic fiction
magic realism
novel
psychological fiction
hasMotif enclosed spaces
labyrinths
masks and disguises
monstrosity
silence and secrecy
hasTranslation The Obscene Bird of Night (English translation) NERFINISHED
influencedBy gothic literature
modernist literature
surrealism
languageStyle experimental
literaryMovement Latin American Boom NERFINISHED
literarySignificance considered a landmark of Chilean literature
considered a major work of the Latin American Boom
renowned for its complex, labyrinthine structure
narrativePerspective shifting perspectives
narrativeStyle nonlinear
unreliable narration
notableCharacter Boy of the Azcoitía family NERFINISHED
Humberto Peñaloza NERFINISHED
Inés NERFINISHED
Jerónimo de Azcoitía NERFINISHED
originalLanguage Spanish
originalTitle El obsceno pájaro de la noche NERFINISHED
publicationYear 1970
settingLocation Chile NERFINISHED
settingPeriod 20th century
studiedIn Latin American literature courses
titleOrigin inspired by a phrase from Henry James Sr.

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Latin American Boom notableWork The Obscene Bird of Night