The genius of Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende is a creative, elusive genius who scans the decades of human history. She takes historical event which she knows intimately and then spins a human story upon it. She understands the fears and desires of both the rich and the poor.

She depicts how characters develop over time. She knows the delights of youth, the cares of the middle aged, the ways of the old and the shadow of death. She knows how the spirit world intertwines with the physical. She has taken Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 'magical realism' and developed it on a historical palette. She senses the drama of crisis - whether it be the Spanish Civil War, the revolutions arising out of slavery and the modern crises in her home continent of Latin America.

She knows the Roman Catholic faith which is so prevalent in Latin America. She plumbs the depths - from the imperviousness of the slave owner to the suffering of the slaves. She scans the ages, from birth to youth, to old age and then finally to death.

She always makes history personal, always letting the sense of the spiritual permeate the story. She has a long view of history. Her stories easily transcend generations. The seeds of the grandparents come to fruition in their offspring.

Isabel Allende began her literary odyssey with "La casa de los espiritus" (The House of the Spirits). However, it did not end there. That was only the beginning.

La Isla bajo del mar

What is the island under the sea? Is it the hidden horrors of slavery which defiles both the slaveholder and the enslaved? Is it the gross inequality of it all, which after festering for years bursts forth in violence? Is it the secret that even the oppressed can experience love as they suffer through their trials?

This book covers the history of Santo Domingue, Haiti and Louisiana. It even reaches into the wintery northeastern states. The tragedy is there, but also the relentless battles to change it all - the abolitionist struggle, the violent Haitian revolution, the tearing apart of multiracial families and their offspring.

Slavery under the colonizers and the revolution that it brews - all are personalized in the life of a long-suffering slave woman. As Zarite tells her story, the background is Santo Domingue, Haiti, then moving o n to Louisiana. The horror of slavery is revealed, both from the views of the owners and the possessed.

Allende always does her homework on the historical background. This includes medical aspects, struggles of daily life, the spirit and the material, the youth and the aged.

Mas alla del invierno

Here again Allende spans the totality of human experience. Here is poverty and violence. Here is immigration from Guatemala to the USA, and the ensuing adaption to a new culture. Here is personal faith and triumph.

The book is based on the phrase of Albert Camus.

"In the midst of winter, I found that there was within me, an invincible summer".

El petalo largo del mar

Here heroic struggles are joined - from the Spanish Civil War to the struggle for socialist renewal in Chile. The link for the two is a charted boat, the "Winnipeg", that Pablo Neruda used to carry some of the victims of the Spanish struggle to safety in Chile. In Chile, the rescued ones pick up the pieces of their lives after violence and war. Later their descendants will continue the struggle in the era of Pinochet's Chile.

It is interesting that Quakers provided crucial financial assistance to Neruda to enable the Winnipeg to embark from Europe just before the outbreak of the second world war.

Trauma and hope are joined here. Spanning class differences, the dominant class is understood, as well as the exploited ones. What a marvel!

La suma de los dias

Here Isabel Allende gives a series of short glimpses into her personal life, together with the joys and heartaches of her extended "tribe". She is often in communication with her long-lost daughter Paula. The story of Paula's untimely death is one of the most gripping novels that Allende has written.

In these stories of her tribe, there are more than enough real-life dramas to provide material for several novels. Isabel says that she usually waits for her "muse" to inspire her, often encouraged by family and friends, to write again - and again.

Conclusion

My view of Isabel Allende? You may have guessed it. I would nominate her for the Nobel prize in literature. And while I am at it, I would select the Cuban medical team for the Nobel prize in medicine.