“Isabel Allende:
Chile Redux”
Hitchens’ introduction to Allende’s novel The House of the Spirits. Very
interesting comparison of the novel’s plot and characters and the actual events
of the Allende overthrow by Pinochet. Ultimately Chile is restored to a
progressive, free society in both the book and reality leading Hitchens to
write, “…I suppose this is one of the very few ‘magical’ fictions ever to have
its wish come true.” All the more interesting when you learn that Isabel is
related to Salvador. Hitchens calls him her uncle, but she is actually his
first cousin once removed. I haven’t
read any Allende, but this will encourage me to do so.
In no way related to the theme of the essay, Hitchens makes
one of his most pompous remarks as an aside, “If I lapse into French instead of
Spanish at this point, it is because all metaphors of the lutte de classe are ultimately French ones.” …but of course!
New learning: Easter Island is called Rapanui (the navel of
the world) by the indigenous population…The cave at Delphi containing the Oracle was also
called “the navel (omphalos)”.
New word: eponymous = giving their name to something
Picture of a street stencil of Salvador Allende on a wall in Buenos Aires, Argentina that I took:
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