CHFA | Global Languages Senior Colloquium
Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Senior
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Major
Spanish w/ Teaching Certification
Minor
History
List all Project Mentors & Advisor(s)
Dr. Ben Post; Dr. Warren Edminster
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
Originally from McLean County, Kentucky, Branden Clayton is a Senior Spanish Education major with a minor in History. While studying Spanish at Murray State, Branden has enjoyed delving into the analytical side of language learning as well as exploring the history and culture of Latin America. In addition to coursework within the Global Languages department, Branden has benefited greatly from the classes offered in the History department, especially those relating to Latin American studies. His studies culminated in a love and appreciation for Latin American poetry and theater especially during the revolutionary period of the 20th century. Going forward, Branden intends on concluding his studies at Murray State and traveling to South America as part of the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Uruguay. He also plans to settle down eventually and teach Spanish to middle and high school students in Western Kentucky.
While contemporaries such as Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez became widely known in Latin America and the United States during the literary Boom of the 1960s and 1970s, Chilean novelist Isabel Allende paved the way for female authors from Latin America to enter the US mainstream. The purpose of this presentation is to explore the use of themes and genres such as exile, family, and the Latin American strain of magic realism in the novels of Isabel Allende and to investigate the use of the novel as a coping mechanism for grieving the loss of her life in Chile. This project takes the form of a literary analysis with focus placed on two novels: a multigenerational saga of the Trueba family that explores 20th century Chile through the lens of magic realism in The House of the Spirits (1982) and a historical fiction-romance which once again travels through late 20th century Chile from the perspective of a the exiled Dalmau family in A Long Petal of the Sea (2019). Given the blend of history and fiction in Allende’s work, I will also use the tools of historical analysis proposed by Steve J. Stern’s The Memory Box of Pinochet’s Chile (2006) to explore how Allende’s life and history reflect in her work. I conclude that Isabel Allende uses the genres of magic realism and romance in conjunction with themes of family and exile to cope with the trauma of exile.
Spring Scholars Week 2022 Event
GTL 400 Senior Colloquium
Memory of What Once Was: Two Novels by Isabel Allende
Originally from McLean County, Kentucky, Branden Clayton is a Senior Spanish Education major with a minor in History. While studying Spanish at Murray State, Branden has enjoyed delving into the analytical side of language learning as well as exploring the history and culture of Latin America. In addition to coursework within the Global Languages department, Branden has benefited greatly from the classes offered in the History department, especially those relating to Latin American studies. His studies culminated in a love and appreciation for Latin American poetry and theater especially during the revolutionary period of the 20th century. Going forward, Branden intends on concluding his studies at Murray State and traveling to South America as part of the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Uruguay. He also plans to settle down eventually and teach Spanish to middle and high school students in Western Kentucky.
While contemporaries such as Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez became widely known in Latin America and the United States during the literary Boom of the 1960s and 1970s, Chilean novelist Isabel Allende paved the way for female authors from Latin America to enter the US mainstream. The purpose of this presentation is to explore the use of themes and genres such as exile, family, and the Latin American strain of magic realism in the novels of Isabel Allende and to investigate the use of the novel as a coping mechanism for grieving the loss of her life in Chile. This project takes the form of a literary analysis with focus placed on two novels: a multigenerational saga of the Trueba family that explores 20th century Chile through the lens of magic realism in The House of the Spirits (1982) and a historical fiction-romance which once again travels through late 20th century Chile from the perspective of a the exiled Dalmau family in A Long Petal of the Sea (2019). Given the blend of history and fiction in Allende’s work, I will also use the tools of historical analysis proposed by Steve J. Stern’s The Memory Box of Pinochet’s Chile (2006) to explore how Allende’s life and history reflect in her work. I conclude that Isabel Allende uses the genres of magic realism and romance in conjunction with themes of family and exile to cope with the trauma of exile.