He has written more than 25 books, which have sold over 70 million times and have been translated into many languages. She has received 60 awards in 15 countries for his work, and two international film productions have been based on his novels.
These are some specific facts about Isabel Allende, the most internationally successful Chilean writer. but, as she writes on her own website, they don’t tell her whole story.
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“It’s very strange to write one’s biography because it’s just a list of dates, events and achievements,” he writes. “In reality, the most important things in my life happened in the secret chambers of my heart and have no place in a biography.”
In fact, he doesn’t even consider his books his greatest success, but the love he shares with his family and the opportunities he’s had to help others. That was what he did, for example, during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile when he spoke out for the politically persecuted and continues to help others with his Isabel Allende Foundation, which seeks to empower women.
Allende turns 80 on August 2nd.
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an unforgettable first novel
However, it is the Chilean author’s books that have made her world famous, in particular, her first novel from 1982, “The House of the Spirits”. The partially autobiographical drama is about the upper-middle class Trueba family, suffering under the yoke of violent patriarch Esteban Trueba.
When a military coup removes the socialist president from power, Trueba pins his hopes on the new government, but is soon disappointed. terror and persecution run through the country, and the trueba family is not saved.
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when isabel allende wrote her family drama in 1982, she had already left chile and was living in exile in venezuela. Her father’s cousin, Salvador Allende, was president of Chile, but was overthrown by the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in 1973 and later committed suicide.
At that time, Isabel Allende no longer felt safe in Chile.
empowering women
Allende was born on August 2, 1942 in Lima as the eldest daughter of a Chilean diplomat. Her parents separated from her and she spent a good part of her childhood living with her grandfather.
later he lived in bolivia and lebanon before returning to chile, where he worked as a journalist, got married and had two children, his daughter paula and his son nicolas.
His daughter Paula died of a metabolic disorder in 1992 at the young age of 29. In 1994, Allende dealt with the death of her daughter in a very personal book called “Paula”. In 1996, she established the Ella Isabel Allende Foundation in Paula’s honor, dedicated to empowering women and girls.
allende has been an active supporter of women’s rights for many years. In 1968 she was one of the founding editors of the feminist magazine “Paula” with the support of her savior relative beyond her.
She also wrote plays and made a name for herself as a TV presenter before emigrating to Venezuela.
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life in exile
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While in exile, he began to write an imaginary letter to his late grandfather. She later developed the text into her novel “The House of the Spirits,” which was filmed in 1993 and starred Meryl Streep and Winona Ryder.
Early on, beyond’s unique way of interweaving fiction and reality, a style called magical realism, became apparent. mixed the horrors of reality with a magical fantasy world that was always full of hope.
Critics have accused her of copying the works of Colombian Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez, who developed magical realism. however, her epic stories of strong women earned her the Chilean national literature award in 2010.
‘I still feel Chilean’
Allende has lived in the United States, where she married for the second time, for more than two decades. but, as she told dw, chile is still her home. “I still feel Chilean. My parents are Chilean, my family is Chilean and I spent the first years of my life, important and decisive years, in Chile.”
despite everything, allende’s work is still relevant worldwide. his latest novel, “violeta”, is a plea to those who need to assert themselves in a macho world. It is a biography of her mother, panchita de ella, with whom the author was very close until the death of her mother in 2018.
The book is not a biography, but rather an illusion on Allende’s part. While the novel’s protagonist gains independence and freedom through her business sense, Allende’s mother depended on her two successive husbands. on the other hand, violet in the novel is strong and combative, but not very emancipated when it comes to love.
The novel, which spans a century, is strikingly contemporary. it begins with the birth of violet in 1920 and ends with the covid pandemic a hundred years later.
The octogenarian, however, has no plans to stop writing. “I really enjoy writing. People tell me: ‘You shouldn’t write anymore, you’re getting too old for that,'” the author told the AFP news agency, adding: “But I love it. Why should I write?” do it?”. do you want to stop?”