Historical Verisimilitudes in Fictional Universe: Cultural Poetics in the Works of Allende

Abstract

This study analyzed Isabel Allendes novel The House of the Spirits by probing the correlation between fiction and history. The theory of New Historicism was used to examine the textuality of history and the historicity of the text. The study argues that Allendes novel can be read as a subversive text that problematizes the boundary between fiction and history. The novel was analyzed by creating a parallel between the fictional work i.e. The House of the Spirits and the history book i.e. The History of Chile to question the neutrality and objectivity of history. The appraisal incorporated the biographical, political, historical and cultural contexts to evaluate the characters, themes and events of the novel. The study analyzed Allendes novel in the backdrop of the texts historical, social and political circumstances. The findings of the study show that Allendes novel is a product of its time, locale, context and the novelists biography