A series of interviews with the Chilean author.

Isabel Allende--"la Famosa" to her fellow Chileans--is the world's most widely read Spanish language author. Her career coincides with the emergence of multiculturalism and global feminism, and her powerfully honest, revelatory works touch the pulse points of humankind. Her bravura study of the interwoven roles of women in family history opens the minds of outsiders to the sufferings of women and their children during years of social and political nightmare. This reference work provides an introduction to Allende's life as well as a guided overview of her body of work. Designed for the fan and scholar alike, this text features an alphabetized, fully-annotated listing of major terms in the Allende canon, including fictional characters, motifs, historical events and themes. A comprehensive index is included.

Readers of the books in Todays Writers and Their Works will learn the story behind each writers story.

A biography of Chilean American novelist Isabel Allende, discussing her youth and family in Lima, her marriage to Michael, her work as a journalist, her clashes with the government, her career as a writer, and the death of her daughter, Paula.

The Chilean-American writer Isabel Allende has won many awards for her magical-realism fiction. But she also has an organization dedicated to supporting the rights of women and girls. Through quotations from the author herself, as well as detail descriptions about major events in her life and color images, readers will learn exactly what it is that makes Isabel Allende an influential Latina.

Isabel Allende garnered immediate attention and international acclaim with the 1982 publication of House of Spirits. Allende drew favorable comparisons to male Latin American writers who were dominating a boom movement that mixed political and magical themes. Yet her engaging epic became a bestseller based on its artistic merit, regardless of gender issues, and her ensuing output of fiction and nonfiction continued to establish her esteemed place in the literary ranks. This Critical Companion introduces readers to Allende's writings with accessible literary analysis of her six novels, featuring discussions of plot, character development, thematic concerns and style, historical contexts, and alternative critical perspectives. A fascinating biographical chapter traces Allende's journey from wife, mother, and journalist in Chile to internationally acclaimed author. Her life story—as stimulating as her novels—offer students and readers a better understanding of the historical and political forces that informed her work. The Literary Heritage chapter provides will deepen readers' appreciation for Allende's contributions to, and place in, the Latin American literary tradition. A select bibliography includes reviews and resources that will be especially useful for student research projects.

This revised edition has been updated to cover Allende's three newest books—City of the Beasts, Portrait in Sepia: A Novel, and Daughter of Fortune. It includes four new interviews in which Allende discusses completing her trilogy of novels that began with House of the Spirits, as well as her ongoing spiritual adventure and political interests.

The source of the narrative energy that creates such absorbing stories. Allende's very popular novels have attracted both critical approval and opprobrium, often at the expense of genuine analysis. This sophisticated study explores the narrative architecture of Allende's House of the Spirits [1982], Daughter of Fortune [1999], and Portrait in Sepia [2000] as a trilogy, proposing that the places created in these novels subvert the patriarchal norms that have governed politics, sexuality, and ethnicity. Rooted in the Foucauldian premise that the history of space is essentially the history of power, and supported by Susan Stanford Friedman's cultural geographies of encounter as well as Gloria Anzaldúa's study of borderlands, this study shows that, by rejecting traditional spatial hierarchies, Allende's trilogy systematically deterritorializes the elite while shifting the previously marginalized to the physical and thematic centers of her works. This movement provides the narrative energy which draws the reader into Allende's universe, and sustains the 'good story' for which she has been universally acclaimed. KAREN WOOLEY MARTIN is Associate Professor of Spanish at Union University, Jackson, Tennessee.

Unlock the more straightforward side of The House of the Spirits with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, a sweeping narrative which chronicles the lives of three generations of the Trueba-del Valle family. As the members of this family grow older, fall in love, develop their own political beliefs and come into conflict with each other, their story provides a constant echo of the rise and fall of the ideologies, traditions and systems that shaped Latin America itself. Isabel Allende is a Chilean writer, and is one of the most popular Spanish-language authors in the world. The House of the Spirits was her debut novel, and its popularity with readers catapulted her to widespread fame when it was published in 1982. Allende was awarded the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 2010 in tribute to her long and varied literary career. Find out everything you need to know about The House of the Spirits in a fraction of the time! This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you: •A complete plot summary •Character studies •Key themes and symbols •Questions for further reflection Why choose BrightSummaries.com? Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you on your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time. See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!