Word: luna
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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NATIVE Chilean Isabel Allende's third novel, Eva Luna, takes us away from the military dictatorship and riot police of her previous works and into a world where guerrilla fighters, African saints and women who sleep in coffins dominate...
...Luna...
...less political than Allende's last two novels, which decry the military dictatorship in the author's native land, Eva Luna protests abuses of power and corruption in a South American nation which one takes to be Venezuela. But her political commentary takes a different, more subtle tack here...
ALLENDE'S novel focuses on the story of Eva Luna, whose name, she says, means "I am life". A natural narrator, she tells us that she was conceived as part of a cure for a native Indian who was poisoned by a snake bite. As her parents are dead, her story centers on her life in the capital city, presumably Caracas, where she works as a domestic servant. Her only companions are her adopted grandmother, Elvira, who sleeps in a coffin every night to avoid spending extra money on a bed, and her godmother, whose head, Eva says, is addled...
Allende's political commentary through Eva's screenplay, which eventually turns into a television show, is the strongest portion of the novel. Eva's work mirrors that of the book--both are ficitonalized efforts to portray political realities. But in Eva Luna, allegory is no escape from censorship. The government attempts to censor the show, which portrays the government's participation in brothels, fake uprisings and hit squads. Eva becomes embroiled in a foul scenario of bribing, violence and censorship as the military attempts to coerce her to change the events of her show...