Princeton University Library (PUL) is proud to announce the launch of the José Donoso Digital Archive, making publicly accessible, for the first time online, dozens of personal diaries by renowned Chilean writer José Donoso, alongside rare photographs and materials from the Programa de Archivos at the Universidad Diego Portales (UDP) in Chile.
José Donoso (1924–1996), a towering figure in 20th-century Latin American literature, is celebrated for his psychologically rich and symbolically charged narratives that probe the social tensions and cultural anxieties of his time. Among his landmark works are El lugar sin límites (1966), El obsceno pájaro de la noche (1970), and Casa de campo (1978). He also explored metafiction and literary history in works such as Historia personal del boom (1972) and Conjeturas sobre la memoria de mi tribu (1996).
Spanning over four decades, Donoso’s diaries offer an unparalleled window into his creative process and the personal struggles—emotional, professional, and financial—that shaped his literary journey. They trace pivotal chapters in his life, from his student years at Princeton and his time teaching at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop to his later period in Spain. These deeply introspective writings illuminate the genesis of his most iconic works and reveal how personal experience was transformed into literary art. As leading Donoso scholar Cecilia García Huidobro notes, these diaries “represent a rare literary case—an author meticulously documenting his creative process as he writes, capturing his doubts, frustrations, and struggles. At the same time, they reveal a writer confronting his own darker sides, not only acknowledging them but transforming them into a powerful creative force.”
The diaries are part of the José Donoso Papers, a major archival collection housed in PUL’s Special Collections. This collection includes drafts of Donoso’s literary works, extensive correspondence, photographs, and a wide array of personal and professional documentation.
The Donoso archive holds special significance as the first Latin American literary archive acquired by Princeton. “This archive inaugurated a long-standing initiative that has made it possible to preserve and study the papers of dozens of other authors, including major figures of the Latin American Boom such as Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa,” said Fernando Acosta-Rodríguez, Librarian for Latin American, Latino, and Iberian Peninsular Studies. “Now, with the launch of the José Donoso Digital Archive, scholars, students, and readers around the world can examine these extraordinary documents without having to travel to Princeton. As the first of Princeton’s Latin American literary collections to be made digitally accessible, the Donoso archive also signals the beginning of a broader initiative to bring more of these important archives online in the coming years.”
The digital platform—also available in a Spanish-language version as Archivo Digital José Donoso—features, in partnership with Universidad Diego Portales, rare photographs of Donoso taken by Gabriel Pérez Mardones in 1995, and El Libro Rojo, a scrapbook curated and annotated by Donoso himself.
Alejandro Arturo Martínez ’23, Director of the Archives Program at UDP, remarked, “The launch of this digital archive reflects an ongoing collaboration between Princeton University and Universidad Diego Portales—an interhemispheric initiative to broaden access to José Donoso’s writings and creative legacy. By making these materials available to new audiences, including students and researchers, we not only safeguard the work of one of Latin America’s most distinctive authors, but also encourage fresh critical engagement with the political, aesthetic, and existential questions his work continues to raise.”
Both Princeton University Library and the Universidad Diego Portales remain dedicated to growing the archive, with ongoing plans to digitize and add additional materials over time.
Source: Library webpage
