Isabel Allende, a New York Times best-selling author and the recipient of the 2014 Presidential Medal of Freedom, visited the Orpheum Theatre on Friday, Nov. 20 to discuss her latest book, “The Japanese Lover,” with Arizona State University professor and Arizona Poet Laureate Alberto Rios.
The 73-year-old Allende grew up in Chile where she worked as a journalist and wrote for a women’s magazine. She fled to Venezuela in 1973 as a political refugee and began her literary career in 1981, when her letters to her dying 100-year-old grandfather became the basis for her first book, “The House of the Spirits.” She now has more than 20 publications.
The idea for “The Japanese Lover,” a novel about a forbidden love during World War II, came from a friend whose mother was in a nursing home and had been friends with a Japanese gardener for 40 years. Allende assumed the pair had been lovers, but when her friend assured her they were not and asked why she would think that, Allende replied, “If I had a male friend for 40 years, I would have slept with him.”
In the novel, the titular Japanese lover is separated from the main character early in life because of the internment camps created by the United States government during the war.
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“The book here, the idea of internment camps…what happened to the Japanese—it feels like I’m reading today’s news,” Rios said. “It’s scary that we don’t learn those lessons.”
Allende agreed and said that we just keep repeating history, as shown by today’s politicians who want to put immigrants and refugees in “concentration camps.”
Allende’s writing was interrupted recently after she experienced multiple personal tragedies. Both her literary agent and her 17-year-old dog died, and her marriage of 27 years ended. She said that although she is emerging from a string of misfortunes, next year will be “fantastic.” She looks forward to beginning her next book on Jan. 8, a tradition that began with her first novel.
Rios ended the interview by inviting the audience to ask Allende questions.
When asked how old she feels, she said 50, because that is when her daughter got sick and died. She said that was the end of her youth.
“Except in bed,” she added. “And then I am 17.”
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When asked what makes her a good writer, Allende thanked the shared human experience.
“Why are my books popular in places I have never been, like Finland, or Cambodia? I have no idea,” she said. “I think that it’s because your stories are my stories are their stories—they’re just human stories. We all feel the same.”
Downtown Phoenix Inc., Changing Hands Bookstore and the Office of Councilman Nowakowski presented the event with support from the Arizona Latino Arts and Cultural Center and the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
This interview was the second event in the Arts & Letters Speaker Series, the largest literary event series held downtown, following Tuesday, Nov. 17’s evening with Rainn Wilson, also at the Orpheum Theatre.
Contact the reporter at Jessica.Swarner@asu.edu.
