The House of the Spirits (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Isabel Allende
- First Published: 1982
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The early 1900’s through the early 1970’s
- Setting: A South American country much like Chile
- Principal Characters: Esteban Trueba, Clara del Valle Trueba, Blanca Trueba de Satigny, Pedro Tercero García, Alba Trueba, Esteban García
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Historical fiction, Family literature, Magical Realism
- Subjects: 1950’s, Dictators, 1960’s, 1970’s, Family or family life, Class conflict, Politics, Supernatural, 1940’s, Class consciousness, Writing, 1920’s, 1930’s, Pregnancy, Rape, Ethnic relations, Oppression, Developing countries, Multiculturalism, Revenge, Illegitimacy, Idealism, Disasters, Earthquakes, Natural disasters, South America or South Americans, Latin America or Latin Americans, Torture
- Locales: South America, Chile
Form and Content
The House of the Spirits is the story of a South American country much like the author’s own Chile, shown by tracing a family through four generations and covering eight decades. Although in this society men control the church, the state, and the family, the major characters in Isabel Allende’s work are the strong-willed women who refuse to be dominated or destroyed.
Appropriately, the story begins with a public confrontation between ten-year-old Clara del Valle and the fanatical priest Father Restrepo. After Clara makes a loud skeptical...
[The entire page is 2414 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
Related Topics
