The eighty years of Isabel Allende, the most widely read Spanish-language living writer in the world

Journalist by profession and novelist by vocation.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
02 August 2022 Tuesday 01:04
17 Reads
The eighty years of Isabel Allende, the most widely read Spanish-language living writer in the world

Journalist by profession and novelist by vocation. That is a good way to define Isabel Allende, beyond saying that she is the daughter of a diplomat and the niece of former President Salvador Allende. But, beyond the kinship, if the Chilean is known for something, it is for her books. The last one, Violeta (Plaza

When he presented this new project at the beginning of the year, he told his readers that it would not be the last and that he still had many adventures to tell. The truth is that if the Chilean has been characterized by something throughout her career, it is because of her vitality and enthusiasm for her followers. Today, on the occasion of her 80th anniversary, we collect some of the curiosities that surround the author of books such as Long Petal of the Sea or Eva Luna.

Allende is a methodical person when it comes to working, to the point of always starting novels on the same day: January 8. A characteristic that she herself confirmed during a chat with La Vanguardia, where she confessed that "that day I bring fresh flowers to the office, light a little incense and start writing." And what happens if the inspiration arrives on January 9?, more than one will ask. “I write it down in my notebook and start on January 8 of the following year. By then, the idea is likely to have evolved and matured. It's usually a positive exercise,” she argues.

The reason for that date is not trivial. That day, in 1981, doctors and relatives warned her that her grandfather was about to die. The writer then decided to write her a farewell letter, which ended up becoming her first book, The House of the Spirits. The success of this was such that every January 8 she starts a novel.

That was 40 years ago and Penguin Random House has announced that it will celebrate this anniversary with a commemorative edition that will include an unpublished preface written by the author herself, and that will be published on October 13 in Spain, Latin America and in Spanish in the United States. in print, ebook and audiobook format.

One of the hardest moments that Allende undoubtedly experienced was the death of his daughter Paula in 1992. Two years later, this tragic event led him to write Paula, a memoir that leaves the soul uncovered. It is not the only tribute that the author paid to her eldest daughter because she also fulfilled her last wish: to create a charitable organization dedicated to the protection and empowerment of women and children around the world. Thus, the Isabel Allende Foundation was born.

The love that Allende professed for his mother was never a secret. They were always best friends with her. So much so, that when they lived apart, each in a different country, they decided to find a formula to keep in touch, and that was none other than the mail. "I have them saved and I have about 24,000 letters", she came to explain in an interview with La Vanguardia. "Then email came and my mom went crazy because she started writing me two or three times a day. At the end of the year, she would give me the letters that I had sent her in a box. My son had them digitized all so that it would not be lost".

The author wanted to continue with this beautiful custom when she passed away. "I kept writing to her spirit, because she was in the habit of recording my day. But it didn't work out, because she was gone and she couldn't answer me," she confessed. Still, just as she did years before with her beloved daughter Paula, she would do hers with her mother in book form. Thus Violet was born.

If someone can boast of a resume, that is none other than Isabel. And it is that the Chilean adds more than fifteen international honorary doctorates, among them, one from the prestigious Harvard University. But it is not the only thing that makes hers an enviable career, since there are also multiple awards that she accumulates. Among them, the National Prize for Literature in Chile or the PEN Center Lifetime Achievement Award in the United States.

Aphrodite is the literary project that Allende embarked on after the silence due to the death of his daughter Paula. But, what does Antonio Banderas have to do with all this? The truth is that a lot, although it seems hard to believe. And it is that, as the writer has recognized on more than one occasion, one night she dreamed that she placed the naked Spanish actor inside a Mexican tortilla, "I poured guacamole and spicy sauce on it, rolled it up and ate it greedily." That was her germ to build this erotic and culinary story that helped her get out of literary mourning.