Isabel Allende is a Chillean-American writer whose work is sometimes awarded the label of magical realism. “In the midst of winter, I finally found there was within me an invincible summer.” “Au milieu de l’hiver, j’apprenais enfin qu’il y avait en moi un été invincible.” This book celebrates that same metaphysical conception of reality that Murakami explores, while encouraging us to remember together the way Lucia, Evelyn, and Richard do between the pages of this book. When we tell a story about our past, we reconstruct our histories: that is the power of narrative. If you believe Haruki Murakami, then all reality is memory. Isabel Allende’s In the Midst of Winter is a beautiful book that prompts readers to meditate on their profound sense of belonging we feel from our community. When they recognize our trauma, usually through a story we tell about our past, we feel like they see us. In the Midst of Winter connects Isabel Allende with Albert Camus to show how the image of pain connects us to our neighbor. Sometimes I would love to have a happy ending, and it doesn’t happen because the character or the story leads me in another direction.” It’s about living with characters long enough to hear their voices and let them tell me the story. “I never try to give a message in my books. Ralph Ellison and Kenneth Burke on Race, Writing, and Friendship.Kenneth Burke on Reading for Identification.Lost in Translation: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.Ray Bradbury on the Seduction of Space in The Rocket Man.Genius and Ink: Virginia Woolf on How to Read.Walter Benjamin on the Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.Simone Weil on the Generosity of Attention in Gravity and Grace.

Simone de Beauvoir on The Ethics of Ambiguity and Existential Courage.The Role of Reciprocity in Nature in Haruki Murakami’s The Elephant Vanishes.Bridge and Door: Georg Simmel on How Separation Inspires Human Connection.Mary Oliver Finds the Antidote to Confusion in Literature.Transforming 1984: The Pursuit of Wisdom and Wonder With How We Read.Ethics of the Infinite: The Origins of Radical Responsibility in the Thought of Emmanuel Levinas.

Allende in the of winter