Allende, Isabel (1942- ), Chilean novelist and journalist,
one of the first female Latin American writers to win worldwide recognition and
popularity. Born in Lima, Peru, where her father was a diplomat, Allende
attended private schools and traveled before moving to Santiago, Chile, to
finish her schooling and to work at the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization. She later worked as a journalist, writing articles on provocative
topics, and in television and motion pictures.
In 1973 Allende's uncle Salvador Allende, president of Chile, died during a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, and she was exiled from Chile. She sought refuge in Caracas, Venezuela, and later lived in the United States. Her exile ended in 1988 when Chilean voters rejected another presidential term for Pinochet, setting the stage for democratic elections in 1989.
Allende's first novel, La casa de los espíritus (1982; The
House of the Spirits,1985), is a family chronicle set against the turmoil
of political and economic change in Latin America. It was well received by
critics, who saw resemblances in the book to the magic realist technique (a
blending of the real and the supernatural) that is found in the works of Latin
American novelist and Nobel Prize
winner Gabriel García Márquez. In 1993 the book was made into a motion
picture of the same title by Danish director Bille August. Allende continued
her exploration of personal and political themes in two subsequent novels, De amor y de sombra (1984; Of Love and
Shadows,1987) and Eva Luna (1987;
translated, 1988). Her other works include the short-story collection Cuentos
de Eva Luna (1990; The Stories
of Eva Luna,1991), the novel El Plan Infinito (1991; The Infinite
Plan,1993), and the nonfiction book Paula (1995), which concerns
both Allende's own life and the irreversible coma into which her daughter
lapsed in 1991.[1]
[1]"Allende, Isabel," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000. ©
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