Researchers restore deleted chapters from Jose Donoso's final memoir

Researcher Cecilia García-Huidobro and the publisher Alfaguara are releasing a complete edition of Jose Donoso Yáñez's final book, Conjeturas sobre la memoria de mi tribu.

The author originally faced intense pressure from his relatives to censor the manuscript before its 1996 publication. These family members demanded the removal of sections that revealed uncomfortable truths about their social origins and past. This pressure caused Donoso to remove three chapters from the text before it went to print.

His daughter, Pilar Donoso, previously stated that the author faced threats of violence from relatives, which led to his decision to remove the conflictual content. García-Huidobro discovered the full original manuscript in the archives at the University of Princeton. Her investigation revealed that three specific chapters, titled Los chimberos, El nombre manchado, and El otro niño, were deleted at the last moment. The new edition restores these pieces to provide the narrative depth that Donoso originally intended.

The publication also coincides with the release of La mirada y el oído, a collection of journalistic chronicles written by Donoso for various international media outlets. These texts show the author's transition from fiction to street reporting, capturing his observations on social issues and his experiences in Chile following the 1960 earthquake.