The author of "House of Spirits" is Isabel Allende, the niece of former
President Salvador Allende.
Personally, I would recommend going to the inspiration of Allende's
"magical realism" style, that is Gabriel Garcia Marquez. "One Hundred
Years of Solitude" is still, without a doubt, the best Latin American
novel of all times, and it is also a very good introduction to the
politics and economics of the region (especially the Liberal-Conservative
dichotomy of the late 19th century).
Other authors I would highly recommend, with political overtones, are
Jorge Amado, Juan Rulfo, Jose Maria Arguedas, Alfredo Bryce Echenique,
Julio Cortazar, Alejo Carpentier, Mario Benedetti, Manuel Scorza, Augusto
Roa Bastos, and the early Mario Vargas Llosa (before his conversion to
becoming the defender of "tradicion, familia y propiedad").
>From my own country, Ecuador, and fresh from hearing a wonderful lecture
yesterday by writer Raul Perez Torres, I would recommend Luis A. Martinez,
Jose de la Cuadra, Pablo Palacio, Joaquin Gallegos Lara, Demetrio Aguilera
Malta, and Jorge Enrique Adoum. ( I would mention my mother, Fanny
Carrion de Fierro, but she has only published poetry so far; hopefully,
she will publish her short stories and novels shortly :-)
There are good collections of Latin American short stories, which would
give your students a "taste" of several of these authors.
Some of the novels I mention are mentioned at the Siglo XXI Editores web
site, listed below:
http://www.inetcorp.net.mx/sigloXX1/creacion.html
Please let me know if you need more specific information, or have a
particular topic in mind.
Luis
On Wed, 26 Mar 1997, Vera M. Britto wrote:
> house of spirits - by chilean author (my mind is blank)
> and instructions for john howell (short story by
> julio cortazar - plus any collection of his). although not a novel per se,
> i, rigoberta menchu (mix auto/biography). for
> a "personal is political" short story "Tia Matilde"
> by Jose Donoso (chile).
>
> Vera Britto
> (fiatlux@umich.edu - http://www.umich.edu/~fiatlux)
> ............................................................................
> Le Bret: Si tu laissais un peu ton ame mousquetaire, la fortune et la
> gloire... Cyrano: Et que faudrait-il faire? Chercher un protecteur
> puissant, prendre un patron, et, comme un lierre obscur que circonvient
> un tronc et s'en fait un tuteur en lui lechant l'ecorce, grimper par
> ruse au lieu de s'elever par force? Non, merci! Non, merci! Non, merci!
> Mais... chanter, rever, rire, passer, etre seul, etre libre... oui.
> "Cyrano de Bergerac" - Edmond Rostand
>
> On Mon, 24 Mar 1997 scherlenrg@conrad.appstate.edu wrote:
>
> > Dear List Members:
> >
> > I will be teaching an Introduction to Latin American Studies course this
> > fall. I would like to have the students read a novel (or a collection of
> > short stories?). I am a political scientist, so I would especially like a
> > novel with political content/overtones/etc. Any suggestions?
> >
> > Thanks for your help,
> >
> > Renee Scherlen
> > Dept of Political Science
> > Appalachian State University
> >
> > scherlenrg@appstate.edu