Isabel Allende, a portion of the book cover from Allende’s memoir Paula, (colors manipulated), photo © 2009 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
Yesterday all day I thought about author Isabel Allende. In 2008 I read two memoirs from the large collection of fiction and creative non-fiction that she’s written: The Sum of Our Days—published last year—and Paula (1995). I hadn’t read any of her works in the almost twenty years since I devoured and loved her first novel, The House of the Spirits (1985).
The reason Allende was on my mind yesterday, January 8, was because that is the date each year that she starts a new book. That was the date back in 1981 when she received a phone call from someone in her native Chile saying that her grandfather, Tata, was dying. She was living in exile in Venezuela—her uncle and Chilean president Salvador Allende had been assassinated years earlier—and she summoned the ghost of her grandmother to help her beloved Tata.
I decided to write him one last time, to tell him he could go in peace because I would never forget him and planned to bequeath his memory to my children and my children’s children. To prove it, I began the letter with an anecdote about my great-aunt Rosa, my grandfather’s first sweetheart, a young girl of almost supernatural beauty who had died in mysterious circumstances shortly before they were to marry, poisoned either by error or malice, and whose soft sepia-tone photograph always sat on the piano in Tata’s house, smiling with unalterable beauty.
~Isabel Allende, from Part Two of her book Paula
That letter became an obsession for Allende, who was 40 years old at the time, married and with two children. After a 12-hour shift at her day job, she returned home at dark, ate dinner with the family, and then sat in front of a portable typewriter and wrote until overcome by exhaustion. The writing came effortlessly, “because my clairvoyant grandmother was dictating to me.”
The letter to her grandfather had become a novel, although Allende could not bring herself to admit it. She had spent her career up to then working as a journalist, writing screenplays and short stories—
…on the periphery of literature…without daring to confess my true calling. I would have to publish three novels translated into several languages before I put down ‘writer’ as my profession when I filled out a form.
She carried the papers with her in a canvas bag, and when the bag became heavy and she had 500 pages “whited out so many times with correction fluid that some were stiff as cardboard,” she knew she was almost finished. In two days, after several earlier tries, she wrote the ten pages of epilogue.
That first novel became an international sensation, a dense epic about the Trueba family, written in the genre of magical realism that characterized the works of so many Latin American novelists—think Gabriel García Márquez and the Buendía family of One Hundred Years of Solitude. I was living in Spain when The House of the Spirits came out but didn’t read it until I returned to the U.S. and began studying about Latin America in a Masters degree program. The writing was fluid and floral, the sentences long and paragraphs thick. There were so many details and people and places that it was like making my way through a labyrinth, but I read it day in and day out, perhaps over two or three weeks, often re-reading sections I felt I hadn’t absorbed fully the first time.
Why it took me all these years to pick up another Allende book, I can only say that there was so much literary terrain to make up that I was overwhelmed to the point of paralysis as to who to read next. Allende wrote sixteen books after her debut novel, and each time I saw a review or otherwise heard news of a new title being published, it would register that I should take up with her again.
When an exuberant neighbor kept me in the parking lot of the post office for almost an hour this past summer gushing about Allende’s new memoir, The Sum of Our Days, which he’d checked out of the local library, I had no recourse but to take it on as my next book to read. In fact, he said he would place it on hold in my name the moment he returned it to the library, so soon the calls started coming that my book was waiting for me.
The writing in that memoir was so powerful, so magnetic, that it didn’t take me long to finish the book. The Sum of Our Days picks up with Allende’s life after the tragic death of her daughter, Paula. It tells the story of her “tribe”—her son and his wife who leaves him to be with a woman, her mother and step-father, her new husband who gives her a reason to finally let down her guard and allow herself to be cared for and loved.
The book gave me reason to immediately want to read the memoir Paula, which told the story of Allende’s daughter and the mysterious illness that took her young life (she was about 30 years old when she died). But it also tells the story of Allende’s own intriguing life, her family in Chile and the coup that forced her out, her first marriage and several careers. Allende’s pain was evident in that book, as was the strength it must have taken to be alive to her daughter’s death.
Allende is a writer’s writer, the kind of powerful force who inspires other writers. The two memoirs I read taught me as much about writing as any workshop or books about writing ever have. I want to go back and read everything else she’s written.
I want to know what emerges from January 8, 2009; I can be certain she has started a new story, a new book, just as I can be certain that the sun rose and set yesterday.
I began Of Love and Shadows on January 8, 1983, because that day had brought me luck with The House of the Spirits, thus initiating a tradition I honor to this day and don’t dare change; I always write the first line of my books on that date. When the time comes, I try to be alone and silent for several hours; I need a lot of time to rid my mind of the noise outside and to cleanse my memory of life’s confusion. I light candles to summon the muses and guardian spirits, I place flowers on my desk to intimidate tedium and the complete works of Pablo Neruda beneath the computer with the hope they will inspire me by osmosis—if computers can be infected with a virus, there’s no reason they should be refreshed by a breath of poetry. In secret ceremony, I prepare my mind and soul to receive the first sentence in a trance, so the door may open slightly and allow me to peer through the hazy outlines of the story waiting for me.
~Isabel Allende, from Part Two of her book Paula
A Few Resources
–Isabel Allende at the Lensic Theater, Santa Fe, NM, September 24, 2008 (Lannan Foundation podcast)
–Isabel Allende Tells Tales of Passion (TED.com video)
–Questions & Answers from Isabel Allende (author’s website)
Isabel Allende press photo © 2008 by Lori Barra.
-Related to post Book Talk – Do You Let Yourself Read
I haven’t read her books but when I read here “The House of the Spirits” I knew I had seen a movie with that title. A fine collection of actors and a great movie. Yep, one and the same. I’ll have to pick up the book yb. Thanks!
I’d be willing to bet most movies (at least the majority) are based on books that became best sellers. If you wrote your own life story yb, and it became a screenplay, who could you see playing you? I think mine would have to be Jane Curtin.
LikeLike
Oh gosh, Heather, Jane Curtin would be perfect for you! :0)
Your question reminds me of a feature I saw yesterday in the local Albuquerque magazine (I was reading it while waiting for a doctor’s appt the other day). Albuquerque’s top singles were asked who would play them in a movie about their lives. I chuckled over most of the answers—some Sandra Bullocks. Fortunately no Angelina Jolies. 8)
If Gilda Radner were alive, she’d have played me in my younger days. Nowadays I’ve mellowed. I honestly can’t think of a reverent yet irreverent (i.e., goofy) Latina middle-aged actor, but if you can let me know.
LikeLike
I really enjoyed this post about Isabel Allende. I have heard her name many times in the last 4-5 years, but haven’t read her books. I’ve heard her interviewed on NPR a few times, and she sounds amazing. Have you ever seen her live? She came to Talking Volumes at St. Paul’s Fitzgerald Theater, but it was before I was “on board” with the writing life. I missed it.
I constantly feel what you expressed: “…I can only say that there was so much literary terrain to make up that I was overwhelmed to the point of paralysis as to who to read next.” That being the case (and considering I’ll not get to her amazing wealth of writing), which Allende book is the “must read” in her collection, ybonesy?
LikeLike
Gosh, Teri, that’s hard to say since I’ve only read three of her 17 or so books. Of the three, I think Sum of Our Days is a fabulous memoir. Like most great memoirs, it shows how when a writer is honest and goes places that others might find too revealing or distasteful, the writer strikes universal themes and makes connection with the reader. It is also beautiful writing.
I do have to warn, though, that Allende’s writing is not spare. Her sentences are long and adorned. Not unnecessarily, mind you, but it is her own style.
Also, The House of the Spirits is a wonderful book, period, but especially delightful if you enjoy magical realism. Not sure if you do.
LikeLike
BTW, Teri, I’ve not seen Allende speak. She came to Santa Fe last September, and I tried to get a ticket, as it sold out quickly. But then I realized I would be out of town at any rate.
LikeLike
Isn’t it great that tickets to see an author sell out quickly?
When you talk about her style, I’ll admit I have felt intimidated by her writing for just those reasons. I have this idea that it’s going to be like Ginsberg’s “Howl” and I’ll have to read every sentence over and over to get it. You’ve inspired me, though. Isabel moves to the “Probably Will Read” list for ’09.
LikeLike
Oh my! Freaking BRILLIANT post. I can’t believe you mentioned Isabel! I LOVED the film House of Spirits based on her book with Glen Close, Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep– I have it on VHS and watch it OFTEN. Thank you for reminding me again! The book I’ve not read and thanks for bringing this up. PS: I put out a “call for help” on my blog. And thank you for the kind note about the new puppy! She is doing better (fingers crossed!) though yes I’m a tad frazzled. HUGS XOXOXOXO
LikeLike
She’s not exactly goofy yb…but how about Selma Hayek playing your part…she’s 42 and drop dead gorgeous. She did that one eyebrow thing for Frida quite well. I think if Hollywood can produce Inter-galactic space wars they could manage to recreate your curly hair. I haven’t seen it though. Just how curly we talkin? 😉
LikeLike
Hey, sib. I forgot that the film was with Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep. Isn’t it amazing, it was set in Latin America and all the actors were not only Americans but mostly light and blond?! Except for Jeremy Irons. Of course, in those days, there was a real dearth of Latin American actors. Plus, you just can’t go wrong with those three—among the very best. I should watch it again.
(BTW, your works on the blog are stunning. I knew you were talented, but I never knew you created such incredible jewelery.)
Heather, I’ll take Selma Hayek!! Speaking of excellent Latin American actors. I forgot about her. Is it vain of me to choose someone who is so gorgeous when I’m not? And the curls are too extreme. I sometimes straighten them, in fact, and it’s hard to tell that I even have curly hair.
BTW, I loved the movie Frida, and then someone gave me the soundtrack, which is wonderful. Have you heard it? Hey, did anyone come as Frida to your Day of the Dead party?
LikeLike
Teri, we have this organization in Santa Fe that regularly sponsors authors, philosophers—all sorts of people. Amy Tan, Junot Diaz, Annie Proulx, Mary Oliver, Louise Erdich, Louise Gluck, and Isabel Allende are just some examples. About an author a month or more. But the tickets sell out the day they go on sale, essentially. I’ve been told you can still go to the theater in Santa Fe and possibly get a seat due to the fact that they set aside a lot of tickets for the students, and usually there are some extras from no-shows.
I wish I had been tuned in to them sooner than this past year, as many of the authors I listed (Mary Oliver and Louise Erdich, for example) came in ’06 timeframe, I think.
Fortunately the only tickets for ’09 so far that have gone on sale are the Jan and Feb events. I’ll be more on top of it to see when the rest of the year’s tickets go on sale.
LikeLike
I don’t remember if I’ve read any of her fiction or not, but I did read Paula, and it was devastating. I loved it, but it devastated me all the same.
LikeLike
I’ve got the movie House of Spirits on hold at the library, thanks to the comments on this post. I love Meryl Streep, so how can I go wrong? The line-up of authors in Santa Fe is sensational; I’d love to hear them all.
I wonder, ybonesy, have you read Sandra Cisneros? She’s a Mexican-American from Chicago, and wrote The House on Mango Street. Her book has been in print 25 years, and she’s doing a book tour this spring in celebration of that–one of her stops being Minneapolis.
I read the book, and I must be missing something. I don’t get why it’s been so popular. I talked to QuoinMonkey about it (QM hasn’t read the book), and we guessed maybe it was one of those books that has Latino undertones that are deeply understood within the community, but not so much by those outside of it.
It’s a really quick read, and I’d love to read it again with more understanding under my belt. Her visit is being hosted at a big high school in Minneapolis, her book being a popular high school English requirement.
LikeLike
ybonesy, I love this post and find it totally inspiring. It makes me want to sit in my studio for the whole week and write. And it comes at a good time for me because lately I’ve been feeling like, What am I doing, thinking I can write? It reminds me that discipline and a good practice will keep moving me through the uninspired times.
I read The House of Spirits long ago but I’m sad to say, it’s the only Allende book I’ve read. After reading your piece, I want to read The Sum of Our Days now.
I really love her ritual of beginning a new book every January 8th. It seems like many famous writers, when asked about the process of writing, all have some kind of practice, ritual, times every day when they write, something that stays the same every day, month, year, and keeps them going, coming back to the page.
Also your quote is exquisite, one I want to put up near my typewriter, about how she puts the complete works of Neruda under her computer:
I have superstitions like that, too, that help me to feel inspired when I write (though that’s not the right word; I shouldn’t call them superstitions if I believe them to be true!). Thanks so much for the time and energy you put into this piece.
LikeLike
Oh, one other thing I forgot to say, similar to Teri, I saw her on, I think, a PBS documentary, or maybe she was on Charlie Rose, I can’t remember for sure. But she was being interviewed and one thing I noted was how serious she seems, as a person and a writer. She seems like a disciplined, serious person in her life, in general. I kind of wish now that I had seen her when she came to Minneapolis. She is such a prolific writer, serious about her craft.
Then I think about seeing Ann Patchett at the Fitz and how, she, too, has written many books and seems quite disciplined about her writing, yet her sense of humor kept us all laughing in the audience. Really different personalities and genres, yet disciplined writers. Studying the lives of other writers, past and present, is incredibly informative and inspiring.
LikeLike
Thanks Ybonesy! I have MAILED YOU via whatever mail you used on the blog – if for some reason it’s not the right one- pls contact me on the email embedded here in WP?
I love the great reading ideas on this thread! I now am set on getting the Sum of Our Days — I feel I need to PREPARE to read it though based on the comments here- seems like its VERY thought provoking.
Also, as for Salma Hayek- I thought she was eastern (like Armenian or something) for the LONGEST time- I was amazed to learn she was Latin! She is beautiful- I truly believe that so whomever suggested it – it’s a good one. I don’t know what you look like actually but since you mentioned BIG HAIR — (somewhere someone said something about your hair)- then you must be my twin because mine can Rasta dread in about 2 days — I never cut it – what a waste of time. I look like Sai Baba unless it’s JUST freshly washed (talk about hilarious hair!)
LikeLike
I love Isabel Allende! The last book of hers I’ve read is The Infinite Plan. I read all her books in Spanish. She has a rambling style, a Russian-nesting-doll style I adore. She knows how to hypnotize a reader, doesn’t she?
Paula was too, too sad. I haven’t read her other memoirs, but now I will!
LikeLike
Own the soundtract, movie and book yb. Lila Downs is wonderful…
I played the soundtrack for the entire month the D.O.D. show ran. My intern wanted to beat me over the head with it about 4 days in 😉
Nah, Selma is a good choice for you. I say go for the gold. Or even Penelope Cruz. That woman looks like an angel on earth. Even I might trade my husband for her 😉
LikeLike
Yeah, Penelope is pretty hot, and what a great name!! Kind of like Prudence.
I love that soundtrack. So haunting. I can listen to it over and over also. Hey, have you ever heard of a singer, I think she was alive in the 40s, named Tonia La Negra? Ah, she is fabulous, also haunting voice.
Christine, I would like to read The Infinite Plan. That is based on the life of her husband, Charlie, who sounds like a gentle renaissance man.
Paula was very sad, heartwrenching. I think it would be good to read Paula and then Sum of Our Days, but I know a lot of people have so many books on their lists of To-Read, which is why I thought the latter might be better. Although I loved them both.
LikeLike
Thanks, QM. Yes, it is inspiring to learn more about writers’ lives. Certainly reading memoir and fiction both by a single writer, and then seeing them speak or hearing them—it can reveal quite a bit.
I was surprised by how much I learned about Allende’s discipline and structure by reading her two books. Also, I read Paula on my September trip to and from Vietnam, and then on the trip I did this past December, I finished Stephen King’s On Writing, which is a sort of writing guide folded into a memoir. I was surprised by how much his approach to writing a book—the way he closes himself into a room (must have a door!!) and just writes, doesn’t look back until it’s done, and after it’s done he finds out what the book is about and what the themes are—was similar to Allende’s approach.
Some of the excerpts from Allende in Paula and in the Q&A on her website also talked about how she doesn’t worry about plot (same with King), lets the characters reveal themselves as if they have lives of their own (same with King), sometimes is surprised as to where her characters take her (same with King), and uses the second edit to be more about the structure of the book (same with King). Both seem to let the first draft be an organic flow, almost a trance, of writing, writing, writing and learning who the characters are and where they are going.
LikeLike
Both are extremely prolific and financially successful authors, I should add.
LikeLike
Now how amazing is this? Yesteray I placed a hold at the library on “Sum of Our Days,” and right now I’m finishing up a blog post with reference to the October Writer’s Digest interview Jordan Rosenfeld conducted with Isabel. I came to RedRavine to snag a link to your Writing Practice page and … here is this incredible piece about Isabel Allende. True sycnronicity!
Beyond that, there is nothing I can add to the eloquent words above mine. Ybonesy, I can see why you don’t want to quit your day job to write since it offers you such splendid travel adventures, but when you do … I’ll be first in line to buy your books.
Ditto to you QuoinMonkey. Chase that Inner Critic back in her cage and get those fingers moving. I’m waiting to read, and can only hold my breath so long!
LikeLike
Wow, that is synchronicity, ritergal!! What compelled you to check out the book? Just curious.
I’m really amazed at Allende in that she was 40 when she wrote her first book. She was one of those extraordinary writers who held down a demanding job and was a mother of two children, and a wife. She talked about how her family didn’t dare bother her while she stole away to her typewriter and wrote and wrote and wrote.
I guess I can’t imagine taking that much time away from my family. I know how obsessed I have become by the short pieces I’ve done—essays and short stories—and so I keep telling myself, I think rightfully so, that I need to wait until my kids are either a bit older or my job less demanding or until something shifts in my life before I start on the novel that is growing in my belly. I hope it’s not an excuse and rather that it’s because I know myself well enough to know when to begin.
LikeLike
Teri, meant to come back and answer your question about Sandra Cisneros. Yes, I have read her, including The House on Mango Street. I think it is critically acclaimed for a couple of reasons, one of the most important is that it gave the rest of the world a window into a specific time and culture that had never really been explored up until then. There was a long history of Latino men, and there were even books by African American women, Native American women, but very little from Latinas.
Also, it is a delightful book, a short read as you say, but also very accessible, perhaps in the way that Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God was accessible.
I also have mentioned before, I think, on his blog that I had a funny personal story about Cisneros. I went to see poet and writer Joy Harjo (LINK) give a reading and talk at the university, and she came up to me before the reading and started talking to me as if she knew me. It was only after I looked very confused that she said, “Oh, I thought you were Sandra Cisneros.”
During that same time, it was when Mango Street was big and there were copies of it in the storefront display of one of our large UNM-area bookstores, that another person stopped me to ask if I were Sandra Cisneros. She said that she’d just seen a photo of the author in the bookstore display and that I looked exactly like her. So I went to the bookstore display, and sure enough, there was the spitting image of me.
Here is a photo of Cisneros from her website (LINK), and I have to say, there is definitely a resemblance. I don’t know—what do you and QM think?
LikeLike
yb,
Ahhh…thanks for your insights about Mango Street. That helps. I haven’t decided if I’ll spend the $18 on a ticket to see her, but your response is making me lean toward “yes.” It’s wonderful to see trailblazers of all varieties in the writing world, and she is obviously one.
I had seen the picture from her website before, and I’ll have to admit I didn’t think, “Oh! Just like ybonesy!” when I saw it. Maybe if you got the cool cowboy boots like the photo?
LikeLike
The cowboy boots would help (I used to wear ones like that) and dang, she has the Virgen de Guadalupe tattoo that I keep threatening to get (just like a sailor). Maybe she’s my altar ego. 8)
LikeLike
This was a very beautiful post, her words and yours. I don’t think I’ve ever consciously heard the name Isabel Allende, but you really distilled the experience of reading her, and I am curious.
That beginning to her novelist career, with Tata and the beautiful girl mysteriously dead, and her keeping the anniversary of January 8th… that is all so terribly romantic. You just know her words must be imbued with mystery and meaning when they derive from such a story-book start.
LikeLike
[…] I got this idea from red Ravine, from the comment section on ybonesy’s post, “The Discipline Of Isabel Allende“. anuvuestudio asked, “If you wrote your own life story yb, and it became a […]
LikeLike
[…] Isabel Allende and her book Inés of My Soul. […]
LikeLike
Wonderful post. I really enjoyed House of the Spirits. I think it’s time to re-visit it. I’ve read parts of other Allende novels but never a complete novel, besides House of the Spirits. I’ve always been too distracted.
LikeLike
I hope you’re able to get through another of her novels, Corina. I haven’t read any other fiction of hers, either, besides that one. If you do, please let us know what it was and whether you’d recommend it. Thanks.
LikeLike
[…] I love Isabel Allende, pretty much all her books. I love magical realism. You know where she tells a story that feels […]
LikeLike
ybonesy, thought about this post last night because we were talking about Isabel Allende at the housewarming/birthday party I was at. They had rerun a Talking Volumes interview with her on MPR during the fund drive last week and a couple of people heard it.
Loved reading this post again. I guess Isabel Allende will be starting a new book in January. Isn’t that amazing to think about?
I think they mentioned that her mother might be heavily involved in the editing process, too. It made me want to read another of her books.
LikeLike