Donoso, Jose

New York. 1993. February 1993. Norton. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket . 0393034364. Translated from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa. 158 pages. hardcover. Jacket design & illustration by Marc Burckhardt. keywords: Literature Translated Chile Latin America. FROM THE PUBLISHER - TARATUTA is a story about history and about writing. Donoso intermixes fact with fiction, actual quotation with imaginative elaboration. Taratuta is formed from a brief moment in Lenin's life, concentrating on the people surrounding him, including one Taratuta believed to be a supporter. Yet the narrator can only find conflicting references to this Taratuta. Was he a devotee of Lenin's or was he working for the other side? Or was he just an egoist with no political affiliation? The narrator puts forth his thoughts on Taratuta in an article. In response, a man of the same name comes forth wondering if he is one of Taratuta's descendants. He proves a strange link to the past. A waiter in love with an aging psychic, he grew up in poverty with little knowledge of his family. Slipping in and out of the narrator's life, this Taratuta is a comic and teasing figure, defying the neat boundaries of history and fiction. In STILL LIFE WITH PIPE, Donoso continues his discussion of the limits of art, He tells the story of Marcos Ruiz Gallardo who trades his obsession for money for an obsession in art. At first interested in the work of a forgotten Chilean painter for monetary reasons, Gallardo slowly turns his life inside out to become the keeper of the artist's memory and works. In this story of strange love and even stranger revenge, both the artistic and bourgeois worlds are delightfully parodied. inventory #17757 ISBN: 0393034364.