Sacred Families by José Donoso

First published:Tres novelitas burguesas, 1973 (English translation, 1977)

Type of plot: Psychological symbolism

Time of work: The early 1970’s

Locale: Barcelona, Spain

Principal Characters:

“Chattanooga Choo-Choo”

• Anselmo Prieto, a doctor whose hobby is painting
• Magdalena Prieto, Anselmo’s wife
• Sylvia Corday, a model
• Ramon del Solar, an architect married to Sylvia

“Green Atom Number Five”

• Roberto Ferrer, a dentist and painter, about forty years old
• Marta Mora, his wife

“Gaspard de la Nuit”

• Mauricio, Sylvia Corday’s sixteen-year-old son
• Sylvia Corday, a model
• Ramon del Solar, an architect, Sylvia Corday’s second husband

The Novel

Sacred Families comprises three connected novellas about the middle class. The first one, “Chattanooga Choo-Choo,” revolves around two couples who have recently met. Their encounter begins as a superficial relationship that becomes more serious when Sylvia Corday, who is married to Ramon del Solar, has an affair with Anselmo Prieto, Magdalena’s husband. On the night on which they consummate the affair, Anselmo notices that Sylvia does not have a face or a pair of arms. Upon her request, he provides her with a mouth using red paper. After consummating their affair, Anselmo realizes that a vital part of his male anatomy has disappeared. What follows is a sequence of events that inform the reader that the wives have been playing a game in which they have disassembled their husbands’ bodily parts and are keeping them in a briefcase. The women have given special attention to that one vital male part; they keep their husbands’ penises in a little velvet bag, and they interchange them frequently.

The second novella, “Green Atom Number Five,” unfolds to reveal Roberto and Marta, a middle-aged couple who have purchased a brand-new apartment. The apartment represents the fulfillment of their lifelong dream. They proceed to furnish the dwelling with the finest things: as a finishing touch to the decoration of their home, they compromise in placing Roberto’s oil painting, Green Atom Number Five, on the wall nearest the front door. After the departure of a visitor, they notice that the painting has disappeared, which puzzles them very much. In a series of circumstances, everything is taken away before their very eyes and they find themselves unable to do anything. After losing everything they become increasingly vicious toward each other, eventually ending up naked and fighting like mad dogs.

The third novella, “Gaspard de la Nuit,” pivots around Mauricio, who is coming to visit his mother, Sylvia, for three months. He has been living with his father and grandmother, “Abuelis,” since his parents were divorced seven years previously. Mauricio neither likes nor approves of his mother’s lifestyle and does not want to become part of the society in which she lives, much to her frustration and dismay. Instead, he goes out every day and spends his time strolling the streets while whistling a Maurice Ravel piece Gaspard de la Nuit, and trying to find a soul mate. One day, in a forest, he meets a vagabond about his age whom he teaches to whistle the Ravel piece. He and the vagabond become closely acquainted until a fantastical sort of metamorphosis occurs: Mauricio becomes the vagabond and the latter becomes Mauricio. After that, the situation at home improves greatly, since the new Mauricio accepts all the material things with which his mother has been trying to bribe him in an attempt to keep her son at home. Mauricio’s changed attitude makes everyone happy.

The Characters

“Chattanooga Choo-Choo” pits men against women. The husbands, Anselmo and Ramon, regard themselves as the ones who set the rules and dominate the battle of the sexes. That is, however, a very simplistic evaluation. In fact, the women, Sylvia and Magdalena, are the ones who control the situation, in a very efficient and subdued fashion. They pretend to be the victims but are actually the opposite. The men are depicted as business-minded personages who believe that they get what they want when they want it in their dealings with women. The truth is that whether they get something or not, the quality and quantity will depend upon the women.

“Green Atom Number Five” is a thorough study of a couple, Roberto and Marta. They are well-characterized before, during, and after the crisis that tears them apart. Roberto, a very successful odontologist, is a man who knows what he wants in life, is sure about his priorities, and dogmatic and pragmatic to the point of thinking that a change in life must start with a change of address. Now that he has moved into his own place, he thinks that everything will be under control. The only disturbance in his apparently peaceful existence in the foreseeable future is the one empty room in the apartment, where he had planned on installing a studio for painting. His fondness for painting, which has been stimulated by Marta, diminishes when she, under the impulse of an angry reaction, tells him that his painting Green Atom Number Five is nothing extraordinary and that her choice of the painting instead of an emerald jewel was motivated more by kindness on her part than by any real talent on her husband’s part.

In this novella, as throughout Sacred Families, Donoso suggests that identity is unstable. Marta, Roberto’s sweet and unselfish wife of many years, who has been unable to bear children, has acted as Roberto’s mother as well as wife. She has never argued or protested, yet now she starts changing for the worse. Indeed, both Roberto’s and Marta’s behavior increasingly worsens, going from love to the most profound hatred. That modification in conduct is achieved slowly. Donoso has proceeded through episodes and incidents, the effects of which have rebounded on the characters. Other supporting characters have merely given a direction to the changes that occur in the main characters.

In the third novella, “Gaspard de la Nuit,” the theme is the obsession that affects the people in the story, especially two of them, although to different degrees. This obsession can be seen in Mauricio, the protagonist, in his endless search for identity; in Sylvia, Mauricio’s mother, the obsession is evidenced by her insistence on making him a part of her world. There are very few digressions, either in the novella’s structure or in Mauricio’s mind. Mauricio’s continual search runs through the story: When he finds himself, and the metamorphosis takes place, the obsession and the story are both over.

All the characters that appear in the novellas are interrelated in some fashion. The character of Sylvia is presented in two different lights: In “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” she is a plastic, faceless mannequin, while in “Gaspard de la Nuit” she plays a very concerned, flesh-and-blood mother.

Critical Context

Since writing Coronación (1957; Coronation, 1965), Esta domingo (1966; This Sunday, 1967), and El obsceno pájaro de la noche (1970; The Obscene Bird of Night, 1973), among other works, José Donoso has been writing about middle-class people and their fruitless existence. He has depicted this social class as decadent, and as a victim of its conventionality, its blind submission to rules, and its absolute acceptance of whatever is in fashion. Sacred Families is no exception: The three novellas revolve around the bourgeoisie and its most negative characteristics. In each case, below the surface action lies the impossibility for the characters to be themselves: Regardless of the fight that some of the characters may put up, they will finally bend to the rules and become part of the society.

Bibliography

Finnegan, Pamela May. The Tension of Paradox: José Donoso’s “The Obscene Bird of Night” as Spiritual Exercises. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1992. Finnegan examines the novel as an expression of man’s estrangement from the world. The novel’s two alter egos, Humberto/Mudito, perceive and receive stimuli, yet they regard the world differently, even though they are interdependent. In a series of chapters, Finnegan follows Donoso’s intricate treatment of this idea, showing how the world composes and discomposes itself. A difficult but rewarding study for advanced students. Includes a bibliography.

McMurray, George R. Authorizing Fictions: José Donoso’s “Casa De Campo.” London: Tamesis Books, 1992. Chapters on Donoso’s handling of voice and time, his narrative strategies (re-presenting characters), and his use of interior duplication and distortion. Includes a bibliography.

McMurray, George R. José Donoso. Boston: Twayne, 1979. An excellent introductory study, with chapters on Donoso’s biography, his short stories, The Obscene Bird of Night, and Sacred Families. Includes chronology, detailed notes, and annotated bibliography.

Magnarelli, Sharon. Understanding José Donoso. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1993. See especially chapter 1: “How to Read José Donoso.” Subsequent chapters cover his short stories and major novels. Includes a bibliography.

Mandri, Flora. José Donoso’s House of Fiction: A Dramatic Construction of Time and Place. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1995. Chapters on all of Donoso’s major fiction, exploring his treatment of history and of place. Includes detailed notes and extensive bibliography.