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Hell Has No Limits

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Hell Has No Limits
First edition (Spanish)
AuthorJosé Donoso
Original titleEl lugar sin límites
TranslatorSuzanne Jill Levine
LanguageSpanish
PublisherSun & Moon Press
Publication date
1966
Publication placeChile
Published in English
1972
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages142
ISBN1-55713-275-5

Hell Has No Limits (Spanish: El lugar sin límites, "The Place Without Limits") is a 1966 novel written by Chilean José Donoso. The novel is set south of the Chilean capital, Santiago, in a small town near the regional center of Talca. It tells the story of a bordello, and details the prostitutes' way of life. The main character is Manuela, the transgender woman who owns the bordello. A number of other memorable characters are introduced. The novel was well received, and Donoso himself considered it his best work: "the most perfect, with fewest errors, the most complete".[1]

Title

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The title Hell Has No Limits refers to a line in Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus, where the character Mephistophilis says:

Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib'd
In one self place; for where we are is hell,
And where hell is, there must we ever be.
Doctor Faustus, Act II, scene i, line 118

Film adaptation

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In 1978, the book was made into a film of the same name.

Editions available

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  • Carlos Fuentes / José Donoso / Severo Sarduy (1972). Triple Cross: Holy Place / Hell Has No Limits / From Cuba with a Song, Dutton.
  • Donoso, José (1995), Hell Has No Limits, Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, OCLC 33207281. Trans. Suzanne Jill Devine.
  • Donoso, José (1999), Hell Has No Limits, Los Angeles: Green Integer, OCLC 42949208. Trans. Suzanne Jill Devine.

Notes

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  1. ^ Cited in Selena Millares' "Introducción" to the Cátedra edition of the novel, p. 56, n. 70.