Latino Identity in Allende's Historical Novels

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture ISSN 1481-4374 Purdue University Press ©Purdue University Volume 13 (2011) Issue 4 Article 8 Latino Identity in Allende's Historical Novels Olga Ries University Diego Portales Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, and the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons Dedicated to the dissemination of scholarly and professional information, Purdue University Press selects, develops, and distributes quality resources in several key subject areas for which its parent university is famous, including business, technology, health, veterinary medicine, and other selected disciplines in the humanities and sciences. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, the peer-reviewed, full-text, and open-access learned journal in the humanities and social sciences, publishes new scholarship following tenets of the discipline of comparative literature and the field of cultural studies designated as "comparative cultural studies." Publications in the journal are indexed in the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (Chadwyck-Healey), the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Thomson Reuters ISI), the Humanities Index (Wilson), Humanities International Complete (EBSCO), the International Bibliography of the Modern Language Association of America, and Scopus (Elsevier). The journal is affiliated with the Purdue University Press monograph series of Books in Comparative Cultural Studies. Contact: <> Recommended Citation Ries, Olga. "Latino Identity in Allende's Historical Novels." 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Publications in the journal are indexed in the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (Chadwyck-Healey), Healey), the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Thomson Reut Reuters ers ISI), the Humanities Index (Wilson), Humanities International Complete (EBSCO), the International Bibliography of the Modern LanguaLangua ge Association of America, and Scopus (Elsevier). The journal is affiliated with the Purdue University Press monogmonog raph series of Books in Comparative Cultural Studies. Contact: < <> Volume 13 Issue 4 (December 2011) Article 8 Olga Ries, "Latino Identity in Allende's Historical Novels" <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol13/iss4/8> http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol13/iss4/8> Contents of CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 13.4 (2011) <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol13/iss4/ http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol13/iss4/> Abstract: In her article "Latino Identity in Allende's Historical Novels" Olga Ries analyzes the concept of individual and group identity found in five historical novels by Isabel Allende. Ries argues that while Allende's protagonists come from different background backgrounds s and different epochs, they share a process of psychological transformation and that affects their identity formation. The result is the formation of a transnational "Hispanic" identity, group as well as individual. In Ries's reading of Allende's texts, transnational ransnational Hispanic identity is based simultaneously on the Mexican/Hispanic concept of mestizaje and on the US-American American concepts of the "melting pot" and the "American Dream." Olga Ries, "Latino Identity in Allende's Novels" page 2 of 8 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 13.4 (2011): <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol13/iss4/8> Olga RIES Latino Identity in Allende's Historical Novels In the last ten years or so Isabel Allende, laureate of the 2010 Chilean National Literature Prize, has added another genre to her oeuvre, the historical novel, namely Hija de la Fortuna (1999), its sequel Retrato en Sepia (2000), Zorro. Comienza la Leyenda (2005), Inés del alma mía (2006), and La isla bajo el mar (2009). The novels Hija de la Fortuna and Retrato en Sepia also form a trilogy with La casa de los espiritus, a trilogy of a centuries-spanning saga that describes Chilean history from Independence until Pinochet's military dictatorship. I argue that in these novels Allende develops a coherent vision of Latin American history by focusing on a common "Hispanic" culture and therefore Allende conceives a common "Hispanic" past. This is less surprising than it might seem, since the author lives in the United States, writes for an international readership, and formulates a vision acceptable to several heterogeneous ethnic minority and main stream groups. Stylistically, all five novels feature a fusion of genres (historical novel, romance, western, biography, documentary) interwoven with elements of magical realism, an element present in her writing since her first novel, and one that allowed her to be catalogued a representative of modern Latin American literature along Gabriel Garcia Márquez or Juan Rulfo (Walter 267). The result is a considerably commodified presentation of Latin American history and culture, one that positions itself largely within US-American Latino culture and weaves together a series of commonplace and exotic images for a conflict-free literary consumption, while maintaining the image as an "ethnic minority" author. These novels cover geographically and chronologically large areas: from Chile to Oregon and from the early decades of the Conquest of the American continent to the early twentieth century. This vista suggests a coherent perspective of Latin America and its past. Centered frequently around popular characters both historical and fictional — e.g., Zorro, Inés Suárez, Lautaro, Georg (...truncated)