Navigate
At a glance:
- Author: José Donoso
- First Published: 1957
- Type of Plot: Social realism/expressionism
- Time of Work: The 1950’s
- Setting: Santiago de Chile and Valparaiso, Chile
- Characters: Andrés Abalos, Misiá Elisa Grey de Abalos, Estela, Mario, Lourdes, Rosario
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Expressionist literature, Novel
- Subjects: 1950's, Class conflict, Mental illness, Upper classes, Servants, South America or South Americans
- Locales: South America, Santiago, Chile, Valparaiso, Chile, Chile
The Novel
Most of the action of the novel takes place in the Abalos mansion, occupied by Misiá Elisa Grey de Abalos and her three women servants, and in the working-class neighborhoods where Mario, who loves the young servant Estela, struggles to maintain his human dignity. The Abalos house represents the enclosed space of repressed characters; the outside constitutes that space where they would find liberation. Coronation consists of three parts; the first, “The Gift,” introduces the characters who gather in the upper-class house to celebrate a birthday party. The...
(The entire page is 2073 words.)
Want to read the whole thing?
Subscribe now to read the rest of this article. Plus, get access to:
- 30,000+ literature study guides
- Critical essays on more than 30,000 works of literature from Salem on Literature (exclusive to eNotes)
- An unparalleled literary criticism section. 40,000 full-length or excerpted essays.
- Content from leading academic publishers, all easily citable with our "Cite this page" button.
- 100% satisfaction guarantee READ MORE
