The Schema of Cultural Power in The House of the Spirits from the Perspective of New Historicism
The House of the Spirits, by tracing the rise and fall of three generations of a family, mirrors the trajectory of modern Chilean history, achieving a profound integration of individual narrative and national history. On the dimension of cultural power, the novel, through the modes of power operation employed by conservative forces such as the landowner Esteban, reveals how ideology perpetuates the reproduction of power structures. At the level of body politics, it uncovers the internal logic of historical narrative: how macro-political struggles are translated into the oppression, trauma, and resistance inscribed on women's bodies, demonstrating that history is co-authored by physical suffering and the will to survive. Ultimately, the novel becomes a vehicle for cultural negotiation. Through the literary reconstruction of obscured memories, it achieves the renewal and reshaping of historical meaning in the process of its dissemination.
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