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October 17, 2005 —
International award-winning author Isabel Allende kicked off the 2005 Dow Visiting Scholars and Artists Lecture Series Wednesday before a near-capacity crowd in the Performing Arts Theatre. Allende delivered her lecture "Stories and Dreams: An Evening with Isabel Allende" as part of this year's series themed "Fall Focus: Popular Culture and Popular Arts"
Allende spent the evening discussing dreams and personal stories that have served as inspiration for novels that have won her book-of-the-year awards in 11 countries.
Her first novel, The House of the Spirits, is based on letters she wrote every evening in her kitchen the year after her grandfather's death. The death of her daughter from a Porphyria attack served as inspiration for her 1996 book, Paula.
Despite the seriousness of some of her stories, Allende displayed a humorous personality that often left those in attendance laughing aloud. She joked about relationships and sex, even going as far as to admit the inspiration for her novel, Aphrodite, was a dream she had of actor Antonio Banderas lying naked in a tortilla.
Allende continued to return to the subject of stories though, saying she has been telling them as long as she can remember.
"Stories are to human kind what dreams are to individuals," she said.
And since Allende links the two so closely, she admitted that she keeps a notepad next to her bed so that she can write down her dreams before she forgets.
Those attending seemed captivated by the author's lecture, taking time afterwards to ask her questions about everything from her definition of love to her writing process. Allende summed up the evening and her passion for writing by saying, "I write because if I didn't, my soul would dry up and die."
Most seemed pleased with Allende's lecture, including many of the English faculty that were in attendance.
"It was a rare treat to have someone of Allende's prominence and artistic achievement visit our campus," associate English professor Dr. Vincent Samarco said. "Her presentation, like her fiction, was challenging and engaging."
Gladys Nilsson will be the second Dow Visiting Artist and will give her lecture "Personal Foibles: A Pursuit of Amuse from Pillar to Post," Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 1 p.m. in the Rhea Miller Recital Hall.