The Uruguayan Juan Carlos Onetti (born 1909) is one of the leading exponents of the new Spanish American novel. This study offers a close reading of the novels published between 1939 and 1964, and of Dejemos hablar al viento (1919). Dr Millington traces the various stages of Onetti's existential and artistic evolution and utilises narrative theory to illuminate Onetti's complex fictional world. The analyses in this book rarely offer a straightforward exposition of Onetti's ideas or seek simply to celebrate Onetti; rather there is an implicit respect for the novels' capacity to stand up to and reward rigorous analysis.