Isabel Allende: biography, books

The most widely read Spanish writer in the world is Isabel Allende. The name of this writer is compared with magical realism. Her works - with the books of Kafka and Marquez. And yet it is impossible to refer the works of Isabel Allende to this or that literary genre. For her work, no systematization is uncharacteristic. Allende herself claims that she is ready to create any prose. About anything and on any topic. Except, perhaps, politics and football.

The beginning of creativity: "House of Spirits"

For more than thirty years Allende devoted journalism and social activities. Her first novel was published in 1982. By that time, the woman was already well known in her homeland as a journalist. Her articles and numerous appearances on television primarily concerned issues of women's rights.

Like the following twenty works, the first novel was translated into thirty-five languages. It is called "House of Spirits". The book is often compared with the novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude." But, unlike the heroes of Marquez, the characters of Allende are more vivid and memorable. This novel can be called a family saga. After all, in it, Isabel told a half-century history of three generations of the Chilean family.

Two years after the literary debut, the novel "Porcelain Plump" was published. And a year later - "Love and darkness".

Features of prose

Isabel Allende is very sensitive to language. If in journalistic activities she uses both English and Spanish, then in literary creation for her there is only a native language. The writer claims that all her stories are born deep inside. She pronounces them in Spanish, and then transfers them to paper. As for the story, whatever story Allende told, there are always strong women in it. In search of her own destiny, her heroines overcome terrible obstacles. The feminist ideas on which Allende was based in his journalistic activities had an impact on creativity. Similar stories, the author believes, give strength to readers. Men also get the opportunity to better understand the essence of a woman, to learn how to empathize with her.

Thanks to the work of this writer, millions of European readers learned about the history and culture of the Latin American continent. Her books are read all over the world. Therefore, already in the process of creating the next novel, Allende seeks less to resort to dialogues. Speaking is not so easy to translate into a foreign language.

Paula

In 1992, in the life of Isabel Allende there was a grief. Paula's daughter died. Before her death, the girl was in a coma for a long time. Allende sent all this time to her mother's letter. They were suffering and pain. The daughter died on December 6, 1992. A month later, Allende realized that if she did not start writing, her heart would also stop. Mother gave her all the letters written during the hardest period of her life, and thanks to them the novel "Paula" appeared. The work was published in 1994.

Since then, for more than twenty years, the Spanish writer overtakes the creative stagnation in December. And on the seventh of January next year, in her life, a new upswing comes. On this day she goes to her library, intended solely for literary activity, and begins to create new stories.

"Aphrodite"

After writing the novel on the deceased daughter, Allende experienced deep spiritual devastation. Out of this state, she was able thanks to a colleague, Anne Lamotte. The author of the bestseller "Bird after the Bird" suggested that Allende had exhausted the source of his imagination. On the advice of Lamotte, the heroine of this article went on a long journey.

After the return of Isabel Allende suddenly decided to start creating a work that is as far from the genre and plot as possible from Paula. A year later, Aphrodite was released, a work that the author himself calls a "book about sex and insatiability".

Haitian slave

Each new story does not let it go until a book is published. Working on the novel "The Island Under the Sea", Allende, by her own admission, tried to feel like a slave. She pictured herself in the place of her heroine. And at times she even thought that she was working on a plantation and was suffering from unbearable heat. Self-expression of this kind led to the fact that Allende began to experience a physical malaise, from which the heroine of the novel suffered. The ailment passed only when the "Island over the Sea" was completed. Perhaps, it is such a complex creative approach that provides the works of the famous writer with huge circulations.

Allende's books are published every 1-2 years. To date, the latest work is the novel "Japanese lover." This book has not yet been translated into Russian.

Despite incredible work capacity, Isabel Allende confessed in one of the interviews in her fears. Fears that creative impotence will one day return, do not leave it ever.