The blooming of Latin American literature during the past 15 years (four Nobel Prizes) has introduced readers around the world to "magical real- ism," a literary blending of commonplace events with strong elements of fantasy. One of the genre's founding fathers is Chile's distinguished novelist Jose Donoso. In this memoir of Santiago during the 1930s, Donoso shows that "magical realism" may in fact more truly reflect Latin perceptions of reality than most Northerners imagine.

A sad...