Isabel Allende presents a new novel and asks that the ‘carcamanes’ politicians go home

The recent publication of purple (Penguin Random House, 2022), the latest novel by the great Isabel Allende, coincides with the 40th anniversary of the publication of The House of Spirits, the novel that placed his name within the Latin American literary canon. Let’s say, then, that we are facing a writer who is not only fundamental, but foundational.

Isabel Allende (Lima, 1942) dared to make the women in her novels the protagonists of their destiny, and her magnificent narrative style took her books to the windows of the main bookstores. Thus, readers from all over the world became aware that in Latin America women also wrote their own history.

purple it is the confirmation of Allende’s commitment to count women. It is the story of a woman who was born in 1920, in the midst of the health crisis caused by the Spanish flu, and dies in 2020, in the midst of the global crisis caused by the coronavirus. One hundred years of a life that is inspired by the writer’s own mother, Francisca Llona, ​​who died shortly before COVID-19 spread throughout the world.

In the virtual press conference he offered for the launch of purple – which will be released in Spanish and English worldwide this week – did not hide the motivation to write this story, saying: “My mother was an extraordinary woman who did not have an extraordinary life because she could never stand alone. She lived subjected first to her father, then to her husband and finally it was I who paid her bills. I always wanted her to be an independent woman, I couldn’t achieve it. I gave that independence to Violeta.” For the writer, who is decidedly feminist, there is no feminism without economic independence.

The where and the when

Violeta sees, in her hundred years of life, all kinds of events: the crash of 1929, the fight for women’s rights, the rise and fall of dictatorships and other tyrannies, a world war and a series of moments where prosperity and poverty, love and lack of love alternate. And all of this Violeta relates by writing a letter addressed to a person she loves above all others.

In that sense, Allende recognizes himself in his new creation. She, who keeps the letters that her mother wrote to her daily, gives us part of her own story, of the events that marked her life in the 79 years she has been in this world. “I recognize myself in some passages of Violeta’s life. It’s natural for those of us who write to draw on our own experiences to build stories,” she says.

He began writing the novel in January 2020, and when COVID became a pandemic, he was inspired to frame the story between the two pandemics. “That January 8 I sat down to write without being very clear about what was going to come out of it. I’m never sure what’s going to come out of my stories. In these 40 years of writing I have learned to have confidence, to have flexibility and not put the story in a straitjacket, ”she says.

But purple it is also, like other books by the writer, a love story. Because she is clear that the world does not move without ambition, greed or power, but neither without love. “Love can correct a little what goes the wrong way. In my own life, what has mobilized me to do the greatest brutalities and also the heroic deeds has been love. The facts, the events, when and where things happen, are always important, but what interests me the most are human relationships, emotions, and of all of them the most powerful is love”, she affirms.

In that sense, it is important to note that much of the book is also about Violeta’s long, passionate but troubled relationship with the father of her child after a brief and unsatisfying marriage. In this there are no coincidences with the life of the author, who has been married four times. “I believe a lot in love. The last time I got married was when I was 75, and if my life gets too long, I’ll probably do it again,” she said with a laugh.

a new chili

the launch of purple It almost coincides with the presentation of the new Chilean government, which a few days ago announced the Ministerial Cabinet that will accompany the newly elected president, Gabriel Boric, when he takes office in March of this year. Isabel Allende, at the request of the press, said about it: “It is a new generation that rises to power. It’s about time the old buzzards go home to play bingo.”

The writer, niece of former President Salvador Allende, said she was delighted by the list of future ministers presented, noting that by naming 14 women and 10 men there is a solid intention that there be gender parity. She highlighted, of course, the appointment of the socialist deputy Maya Fernández. “She Not only will she be Minister of Chile, she will be Minister of Defense. In other words, she is a young woman, who grew up in Cuba, the granddaughter of Salvador Allende, in a very special position, in which she will have to come to terms with the armed forces and let’s not forget the past of the armed forces in Chile,” he said. the author.

Considered the most widely read author in Spanish in the world, her political point of view has always been taken into account. It is not a small thing.