Read More About It: The Life and Times of Isabel Allende

Director of Education Troy Scheid has put together a list of great reading to enhance and broaden your experience of our current production, THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS. Check it out! If you see anything you like, click on the Amazon.com links below and help support MST with your purchase.

The House of the Spirits (or en espanol): Begun in 1981 as an imaginary letter to Isabel Allende’s dying grandfather, this is the epic that inspired Caridad Svich’s stage adaptation. At the time, Allende was living in Venezuela, where she had fled the reach of Pinochet’s government. Through the fortunes of four generations of the fictional Trueba and del Valle families, Allende traces the history of Chile through the violent events of 1973, when her relative, Salvador Allende, Chile’s president, was overthrown by a military coup led by Augusto Pinochet. The book contains elements of magical realism, such as the hereditary clairvoyance of the book’s female characters, the algae-green hair of Rosa the Beautiful, and the mysterious devotion of the dog Barrabas. However, several characters in the novel have real-world counterparts: the character called “The Candidate” and “The President” is said to represent Salvador Allende; “The Poet” represents Chilean Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda, and Pedro Tercero Garcia is said to represent folk/protest singer Victor Jara.

Pablo Neruda: Selected Poems (Edición bilingüe): Gabriel García Márquez called Neruda, the great Chilean poet and 1971 Nobel Prize laureate in literature, “the greatest poet of the twentieth century in any language.” When Isabel Allende was working as a journalist in Chile, she sought an interview with Neruda. He declined the interview and told her she should consider being a novelist rather than a journalist. Neruda’s poems encompass a range of subjects including love and sensuality, history, and politics. Not quite two weeks after Pinochet seized power, Neruda died of heart failure (he had been hospitalized for cancer). Though the military dictatorship tried to prevent Neruda’s funeral from spurring unrest, thousands of Chileans attended in defiance of curfew and in protest of the new regime. This book is a bilingual edition.

La Población: Throughout Latin America, Víctor Jara is regarded as a symbol for the struggle for human rights because of his political activism, prominently expressed in his songs with themes of love, peace, and equality. La Población is his 1972 album chronicling the struggles of Chile’s poorest residents living on the outskirts of Santiago de Chile. As a prominent figure of protest against the Pinochet government, he was arrested, tortured and executed days after the coup by members of the military dictatorship.

The Sum of Our Days: A Memoir (P.S.) & My Invented Country: A Memoir: While parts of The House of the Spirits may be understood as paralleling the experiences of Isabel Allende and her family, in these two memoirs she explores the life of her family and circle of friends (her tribe) more literally and closely. In The Sum of Our Days, written as a letter to her daughter Paula, who has just died, Allende traces her journey from grief at her loss to being able to work again, celebrate life, and experience contentment. My Invented Country subjectively explores the Chile that Allende experienced, including growing up in Santiago, historical events she lived through, and social and cultural aspects of the country. Playwright Caridad Svich recommends these books for exploring the world of The House of the Spirits (both the play and the novel).

Battling for Hearts and Minds: Memory Struggles in Pinochet’s Chile, 1973–1988
(Latin America Otherwise): Just as September 11, 2001, is a defining moment in American history, remembered by all those who were old enough to understand what was happening, so was September 11, 1973, a defining moment in Chilean history. It was the day Salvador Allende (Chile’s president, leader of the Socialist Popular Unity coalition, and a relative [tío] of Isabel Allende) was forced to resign by the advancing forces of Augusto Pinochet. This was followed by purges of leftists and anyone suspected of socialist sympathies. While Pinochet succeeded in ruling the country from 1973 to 1988, a complex struggle continued for control of how the coup would be viewed. In looking back on this moment, how did people on each side of the conflict define it? Through interviews, archives, Truth Commission documents, radio addresses, and written and oral histories, Stern explores the struggles over resolving individual “loose” memories and experiences with the collective mythologizing of Allende’s ouster and Pinochet’s rule. Playwright Caridad Svich recommends this book for exploring the world of The House of the Spirits (both the play and the novel).

The History of Chile (Palgrave Essential Histories): The History of Chile provides a broad overview of one of the world’s oldest democracies. Characterizing Chile as “a country of historians and poets,” and taking advantage of Chileans’ interest in self-reflection, history and record-keeping, Rector combines historical narrative with an introduction to political, social and cultural forces in the country. Playwright Caridad Svich recommends this book for exploring the world of The House of the Spirits (both the play and the novel).

Pinochet in Piccadilly: Britain and Chile's Hidden History: In 1998, ten years after his rule as dictator of Chile ended, Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London (where he had traveled for medical care) and charged with crimes against humanity. His ensuing 16-month detention led to questions about relations between Pinochet’s government, Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, and Tony Blair, who authorized the arrest. Playwright Caridad Svich recommends this book for exploring the world of The House of the Spirits (both the play and the novel).

Le Ton Beau De Marot: In Praise Of The Music Of Language: The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gödel, Escher, Bach challenges several friends to translate a short poem from French to English, and the resulting widely varying attempts lead him to meditate on the puzzles and challenges of translation, whether from one language to another or from “the page to the stage.” Main Street Theater’s production of Caridad Svich’s play is the result of several layers of translation: from book to play, from Spanish to English, and from script to performance.

Translation will be the topic of our talkback with Ms. Svich on Sept. 20, 2009.

THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS plays our Rice Village location through October 11, 2009. For tickets, please call 713-524-6706.

And that's the word on the street!