“I'm living in California but I have a place that is mine in Chile and I belong there. I am no longer an exile.”
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Author detail
Isabel Angélica Allende Llona (Lima, Perú; 2 de agosto de 1942) es una escritora chilena con nacionalidad estadounidense, de ascendencia hispano-portuguesa y nacida en Perú. Desde 2004 es miembro de la Academia Estadounidense de las Artes y las Letras. Obtuvo el Premio Nacional de Literatura de su país en 2010. La venta total de sus libros alcanza 73 millones de ejemplares y sus obras han sido traducidas a 42 idiomas. Es considerada como la escritora viva más leída del mundo de la lengua española. Sobrina y ahijada del expresidente chileno Salvador Allende (1970 - 1973), comenzó su carrera literaria como periodista. Tras el la muerte de su tío en el golpe militar de Chile en 1973 y el derrocamiento del gobierno de coalición, Isabel Allende abandonó Chile y se refugió en Venezuela. Su primera novela, *La casa de los espíritus* (1985), que surgió directamente de su exilio, se convirtió en un éxito de ventas y crítica mundial. A menudo entreteje elementos de mito y realismo, o lo que se conoce como "realismo mágico". Sus novelas a veces se basan en su propia infancia y experiencias vitales. ---------- Isabel Allende was born on 2 August 2 1942 in Lima, Peru. The niece and goddaughter of Salvador Allende, the former president of Chile from 1970 to 1973, she started her writing career as a journalist. Several months after her uncle's assassination and the overthrow of Chile's coalition government in 1973, Allende left Chile and found refuge in Venezuela. Her first novel, The House of the Spirits (1985), which arose directly out of her exile, became a worldwide bestseller and critical success. She often weaves together elements of myth and realism, or what is known as "magic realist." Her novels are sometimes based on her own childhood and life experiences. Allende has been called "the world's most widely read Spanish-language author."
Quotes
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“I'm living in California but I have a place that is mine in Chile and I belong there. I am no longer an exile.”
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“On a Tuesday, September 11th, 1973, we had the military coup in Chile that forced me to leave my country eventually. And then, on a Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, we had the terrorist attack...”
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“I have written about Chile extensively, and therefore I have read many books on the subject, mostly for research.”
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“At five I was already a feminist, and nobody used the word in Chile yet.”
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“The longest, most solid and complex relationship in my life is with my mother. It started before I was born, and now, when I am 71 and living in California and she is 92 and living in Chile,...”
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“The first lie of fiction is that the author gives some order to the chaos of life: chronological order, or whatever order the author chooses.”
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“A man who cooks is very sexy. A woman who cooks is not that sexy. Because it's associated in our mind to the domestic cliche of the woman.”
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“I'm aware of the mystery around us, so I write about coincidences, premonitions, emotions, dreams, the power of nature, magic.”
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“I never try to convey a message, I just want to tell a story. Why that story in particular? I have no idea, but I have learned to surrender to the muse. I become obsessed with a theme or wit...”
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“I have more freedom when I write fiction, but my memoirs have had a much stronger impact on my readers. Somehow the 'message,' even if I am not even aware that there is one, is conveyed bett...”
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“I have not changed; I am still the same girl I was fifty years ago and the same young woman I was in the seventies. I still lust for life, I am still ferociously independent, I still crave j...”
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“Give, give, give - what is the point of having experience, knowledge or talent if I don't give it away? Of having stories if I don't tell them to others? Of having wealth if I don't share it...”
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“Feminism is dated? Yes, for privileged women like my daughter and all of us here today, but not for most of our sisters in the rest of the world who are still forced into premature marriage,...”
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“From journalism I learned to write under pressure, to work with deadlines, to have limited space and time, to conduct and interview, to find information, to research, and above all, to use l...”
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“I have lived with passion and in a hurry, trying to accomplish too many things. I never had time to think about my beliefs until my 28-year-old daughter Paula fell ill. She was in a coma for...”
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“I never had time to think about my beliefs until my 28-year-old daughter Paula fell ill. She was in a coma for a year, and I took care of her at home until she died in my arms in December of...”
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“I write to understand my circumstances, to sort out the confusion of reality, to exorcise my demons. But most of all, I write because I love it!”
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“Every life of a character is within a context. If I write detached from a social and political background, my story looks like a soap opera where everybody is indoors, not working and living...”
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“My desk is like a 'U,' so I have my computer and lots of dictionaries because I write in Spanish and I live in English.”
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“The world starts to exist, for Americans, when we are in conflict with a place. And then all of a sudden, Afghanistan pops up on the TV screen and it becomes a place. And it exists for three...”
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