Isabel Allende

M. Carmen Gomez-Galisteo (Universidad a Distancia)

Ed. by Cristina Sandru, The Literary Encyclopedia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 5.1.1: Hispanic Writing and Culture of South America.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (University of Western Australia), Ben Bollig (University of Oxford), Ceire Broderick (University College Cork), Nuala Finnegan (University College Cork), Anna Forné (Gothenburg University), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Cara Levey (University College Cork), Carolina Orloff (Independent Scholar - Europe), Lori Oxford (Western Carolina University), Ailsa Peate (University of Westminster)

Dates

Born 2 Aug 1942
Activity 1962-ongoing

Places

Born in Peru
Active in Chile; Peru; United States

Activities

Primary

Journalist
Novelist

Resources

Allende's Works

Save to Bookshelf

With her debut novel,

La casa de los espíritus

[

The House of the Spirits

] (1982), Chilean author Isabel Allende did not only jump to the top of bestselling lists, but also made for herself a name in Latin-American as well as in world literature. With her unique blend of magical realism, following in the footpath opened by writers such as Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez, she is currently one of the most interesting female voices in the Latin American literary panorama.

Born Isabel Angélica Allende Llona in 1942 in Lima, Peru, where her father held a diplomatic post, she moved to her parents’ native Chile at the age of three after her father abandoned the family just a few days after the birth of her youngest brother. Living at her grandfather’s impressive mansion in

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Citation: Gomez-Galisteo, M. Carmen. "Isabel Allende". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 December 2007; last revised 11 April 2025. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5420, accessed 18 April 2025.]

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