Isabel Allende does not need a presentation. Is The most read Spanish writer in the worldwith a record figure of copies sold: 77 million.
These days his latest novel arrives at Libraries: “My name is Emilia del Valle”whose central character has many points in common with his life. Emilia is a journalist and traveler, a woman who was born in an unconventional family and transgressed the limits of an ultra conservative society. But these are not the only exceptional features of the character. Because in addition, its last name is related to Isabel’s literary family and her most famous book “The House of Spirits”, which opened the doors of the United States and from cinema and gave planetary dimension to his work.
The historical fact around which history develops is The Civil War of 1891 in Chile, famous for episodes as cruel as the Concón and Lo Cañas massacre. Emilia, chronicler by willpower, will have to start in a letter denied to women, in the worst possible scenarios. But he will do it in Chile, the land of his ancestors where he can finally recognize his identity and also fall in love. “Several people have pointed out that Emilia is my alter ego, but the truth is that it was not intentional. We seem that we both begin in journalism and we are somewhat advanced for the time we have to live, but there end the similarities. Emilia is much more interesting and brave than me,” Allende said in the presentation of the book.
A traveling life is also a brand that author and character shares. Because although Isabel is Chilean, she had to be born in Peru because of her father’s diplomatic career that was also later being the profession of her stepfather. Years later, The fall of Salvador Allende (cousin of his father) forced the family to an exile that ended up being forever. First they lived in Venezuela and then in the United States, a country where the novel begins and where the writer lives until today.
Among the hundreds of distinctions he received throughout his career Isabel Allende, the entrance to the Academy of Arts and Letters of the United States has been one of the most important, as well as the presidential medal of La Libertad that Barack Obama gave him and the medal for the prominent contribution to the American letters, which was the second foreign author in receiving and the first Spanish language.
But Allende feels A Chilean writer by language, memories and family roots. Chile will return this year to present “My name is Emilia del Valle”, a story in which its homeland is more than ever the protagonist.
From California, his land by choice, Isabel answered the news questions, about the social place of women, journalism and her current life.
News: Was it inspired by any real person to create Emilia’s character?
Isabel Allende: I did not have a certain model in mind to create the character, I think it is a mixture of several people that I have met.
News: His life and that of Emilia del Valle have some similarities. Which do you recognize?
ALLENDE: Some people who have read the novel compare Emilia with me, but I promise that I didn’t think about that when I was writing. (Starting, Emilia is high of long legs …). The raw material of writing is the experience itself, memory, those things that matter to us and, of course, imagination. It is not uncommon, therefore that the author or author appears between the lines. Emilia, like me, had no relationship with her biological father, who abandoned her, but had a formidable stepfather, which is a tribute to my own stepfather, the ineffable uncle Ramón. We both started life as journalists and we had to witness violent events. I think those are the only similarities.
News: You have always defended the self -determination of women. Is the defense of the profession itself, as in the case of Emilia, the first step for that self -determination?
ALLENDE: Not all women have a profession. The first step is to be able to stay alone and the second is to have control over your body. If another person pays the accounts, freedom is limited. And if a woman cannot control her own fertility, she actually controls very little.
News: You are a journalist like your character, although today literature is your main activity. What is still present of that journalist that was? Or is never quite a journalist?
ALLENDE: In journalism I learned to structure the text, capture the reader’s attention in the first lines, maintain interest until the end, conduct an interview, investigate with more than one source, etc. All that serves me in literature. I miss teamwork. Scripture is a very lonely trade.
News: The history of Chile is very present in this story. What is your relationship with your country of origin today?
ALLENDE: I have not alive half a century in Chile, but I am still Chilean. There are the most important memories, those of childhood, and family roots. Before I went to Chile often to see my parents, but since the pandemic I have gone much less, I have very few friends and little family. I keep aware of the news. I have scheduled a trip in September, to talk about this novel, which is deeply Chilean.
News: Emilia constantly reflects on the ties of love and social ties. True and circumstantial affections. How does someone as successful as you to balance affections, profession and social relationships in your life?
ALLENDE: I have a quiet and private life, except when I have to make book tours. I have reduced public life to the maximum and I am very particular with social life, I do not go to parties or meetings of more than 6 or 8 people. Cultivation of friendship with some people chosen and with almost all my neighbors. My most important affections are limited to Roger, my husband; Nico, my son; Lori, my daughter -in -law and two bitches. I cannot say that I have a “balanced” life, because 90% of my activity is around literature. Actually, I am very boring.
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