The story of the last member of the aristocratic Azcoitia family, a monstrous mutation protected from the knowledge of his deformity by being surrounded with other freaks as companions, The Obscene Bird of Night is a triumph of imaginative, visionary writing. Its luxuriance, fecundity, horror, and energy will not soon fade from the reader’s mind.The story is like a great puzzle . . . invested with a vibrant, almost tangible reality.—The New York TimesAlthough many of the other “boom” writers may have received more attention—especially Fuentes and Vargas Llosa—Donoso and his masterpiece may be the most lasting, visionary, strangest of the books from this time period. Seriously, it’s a novel about the last member of an aristocratic family, a monstrous mutant, who is surrounded by other freaks so as to not feel out of place.—Publishers WeeklyNicola Barker has said: "I'm no expert on the topic of South American literature (in fact I'm a dunce), but I have reason to believe (after diligently scouring the internet) that Chile's Jose Donoso, while a very highly regarded author on home turf, is little known on this side of the Atlantic. His masterpiece is the fabulously entitled The Obscene Bird of Night. It would be a crass understatement to say that this book is a challenging read; it's totally and unapologetically psychotic. It's also insanely gothic, brilliantly engaging, exquisitely written, filthy, sick, terrifying, supremely perplexing, and somehow connives to make the brave reader feel like a tiny, sleeping gnat being sucked down a fabulously kaleidoscopic dream plughole."

    The Peruvian poet, Cesar Vallejo, part Indian and born in a mining village, ranks not far below Neruda. Robert Bly is one of America's foremost poets, and a translator of uncommon brilliance. The combination makes for a priceless volume."—Long Beach Press Telegram

    When he wrote these poems he was dying of cancer, and as the title suggests he addresses not ordinary stones, but cosmic ones: stones that reconcile immobile permanence and the clarity of spiritual flight. When the poet meets his crystallized self, the encounter "takes on an eerie brilliance"—The Village Voice. Bilingual with introduction."An excellent bilingual editon."—Choice

    This tropical village is inhabited by some exceptional beings: the vigorous, rough-hewn Father Cándido and his wry talking Jesus--a crucifix presented to him by pirates from out of the past; Colonel Candelario Mariscal, the despoiler who is said to be the son of the Devil and is seeking salvation through the honest love of the daughter of the witch doctor Bulu-Bulu; and Crisóstomo Chalena, the outsider who gains control of the town’s roofs and rainwater and eventually the entire village. These and many other equally protean figures cross paths and swords as Santorontón is torn between the Evil One and the Crucified One. The story is invested with a pervading sense of magic and with political meaning as well. The fantastic microcosm of Santorontón illustrates both symbolically and literally many of the essential problems that bedevil Latin America. Demetrio Aguilera-Malta, born in turn-of-the-century Ecuador, is a poet, playwright, essayist and novelist. Now recognized as one of the major literary influences in Latin America. Aguilera-Malta made a vital contribution to the development of magical realism, a creative blend of fantasy and myth, imbued with the vision of social and political turmoil. In the 1930s, he was one of the Ecuadorian writers who formed the Grupo de Guayaquil to further social change. His early works were judged crude and violent, but they were a turning point in Ecuadorian literature and have had an obvious impact on younger Latin American writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez.