The Obscene Bird of Night: Analysis of Setting
"The Obscene Bird of Night: Analysis of Setting" delves into the intricate and multifaceted environments within the novel, illustrating how these settings reflect the themes of complexity and human experience. Central to the narrative is the Casa de Ejercicios Espirituales de la Encarnación, a sprawling institution for elderly women in the fictional Chilean city of La Chimba. This Casa is depicted as a labyrinthine structure, representing both a refuge and a prison, where the boundaries between care and confinement blur. The contrasting locale of La Rinconada, an isolated estate belonging to the de Azcoitía family, serves as a haven for marginalized individuals, further emphasizing the theme of societal rejection. Both settings create alternate realities that challenge conventional classifications of normalcy and deviance, portraying inhabitants as unique individuals rather than mere labels.
Additionally, La Chimba, the surrounding city, introduces a chaotic urban labyrinth that mirrors the Casa's internal complexities, illustrating the broader social dynamics at play. The narrative intertwines these various environments, collectively underscoring the unpredictable nature of human actions and societal structures. Through this rich tapestry of settings, the analysis reveals how they serve not only as physical spaces but also as metaphorical reflections of human existence and social commentary.
The Obscene Bird of Night: Analysis of Setting
First published:El obsceno pájaro de la noche, 1970 (English translation, 1973)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Magical Realism
Time of work: Mid-twentieth century
Places Discussed
Casa de Ejercicios Espirituales de la Encarnación
Casa de Ejercicios Espirituales de la Encarnación. Home for elderly women in the fictional Chilean city of La Chimba. A large, rambling structure, the Casa has over the years become a labyrinth through two different but complementary processes of growth. Externally, additions of varying sizes and architectural styles have proliferated to the point that no one remembers what the original building looked like; internally, rooms have been divided and subdivided until even Humberto Peñaloza, the Casa’s caretaker, no longer comprehends its overall layout.
The Casa is variously depicted as a magic kingdom, a beehive, a prison, and a place to which both people and things go when they have outlived their usefulness. Clearly, it is a world of its own that is nonetheless intended to have some metaphorical relationship to the world as a whole. Its complex and labyrinthine character is further emphasized by the narrative’s frequent references to its many nooks and crannies, and to secret recesses in which witchcraft and other mysterious rites are practiced by its residents. Although it is supposed to be an institution that benevolently looks after those who live within, it is the inmates who have in fact taken control of the asylum, as the novel continues to develop its theme of the unpredictable and often irrational outcomes of human action.
La Rinconada
La Rinconada. Country estate of the de Azcoitía family. When Don Jerónimo de Azcoitía’s wife, Inés, gives birth to a monstrously deformed baby, the father decides to shield the boy from reality by fabricating an artificial world in which the abnormal will seem normal. La Rinconada is transformed into a haven for those usually identified as freaks, as once again readers encounter a world that has produced its own labyrinthine complexity in the process of creating an alternative to the conventional treatment of society’s underprivileged classes.
Because of its almost complete isolation from the mainstream world, La Rinconada becomes even more detached from mundane reality than does the Casa. Life within its well-guarded walls is portrayed as subverting conventional social structures. There, the very idea of the normal has been abolished, as Don Jerónimo strives to create a culture in which people are not classified in terms of any systems or generalizations, but are instead treated as unique individuals who will be accepted regardless of whatever each happens to be. Like the Casa, however, La Rinconada invents a future for itself in a way unforeseen by the de Azcoitías, as its inhabitants’ decision to murder Don Jerónimo represents their complete rejection of any degree of social control.
La Chimba
La Chimba. Major city of the region in which the novel takes place, situated near the real locations of the Maule River and the towns of Cauquenes, San Javier, and Villa Alegre in north-central Chile. Whenever the inhabitants of the Casa venture out into the surrounding city, they encounter another kind of labyrinth in which a rapidly growing urban community’s network of streets and buildings spills over into the adjacent countryside.
La Chimba hospital
La Chimba hospital. Site of Humberto’s operation for a stomach disorder. The narrative’s emphasis on labyrinths as the fundamental organizing principles of human nature is further elaborated when both the hospital and Humberto’s body are depicted as complex, proliferating networks characterized by multiple passageways and ultimate incomprehensibility.
Bibliography
Baker, Robert. “José Donoso’s El obsceno pájaro de la noche: Thoughts on ‘Schizophrenic’ Form.” Revista de Estudios Hispánicos 26, no. 1 (1992): 37-60. A clear discussion of the sometimes confusing ways in which characters fuse with each other.
Diamond-Nigh, Lynne. “El obsceno pájaro de la noche: An Allegory of Creation.” Hispanófila 104 (1992): 37-45. Emphasizes the religious metaphors used in the novel.
Donoso, José. “A Small Biography of The Obscene Bird of Night.” Review of Contemporary Fiction 12, no. 2 (1992): 18-31. A fascinating discussion by the author on how the novel came into being, the various rewrites, and the various people and events which inspired their novelistic counterparts.
Rowe, William. “José Donoso: El obsceno pájaro de la noche as Test Case for Psychoanalytic Interpretation.” Modern Language Review 78, no. 3 (1983): 588-96. Focuses on the relationship between Humberto and Jerónimo in the novel and looks at the themes of narcissism and self-destruction.
Swanson, Philip. “José Donoso: El obsceno pájaro de la noche.” In Landmarks in Modern Latin American Fiction. London: Routledge, 1990. A tightly-argued essay which sets The Obscene Bird of Night in the context of Donoso’s other novels and concentrates on the different parallels constructed by the novel, such as those between Humberto and Mudito and between the yellow bitch and Peta Ponce.