The metaphoric or symbolic space of text – both written and photographed – is a primary site within the trilogy for subversion of class- and genderbased borders. This chapter explores the role of women’s discourse, which has traditionally been marginalized or dismissed as frivolous by patriarchal power structures, as a means of carving out space and authority for the female voice. Within the trilogy, writing and photography function as passports, either by allowing the female protagonist herself to achieve physical mobility or by allowing her message to travel across political and cultural borders. In many ways, textual spaces synthesize and resolve the border tensions we have discussed in the preceding chapters; they demonstrate the potential of text for the recovery or preservation of memory and as a catalyst for the socio-political, socio-ethnic and socio-sexual transgressions made possible by this documentation. The testimonial and contestatory nature of the final third of Allende’s debut novel made it a black-market item in Pinochet’s Chile; while the author herself was physically displaced from her home country, and dissidents within its borders were largely silenced, the writing and publishing processes allowed subversive messages to penetrate dozens of national and political boundaries. Similarly, writing serves as an outlet for the forbidden passions of the proper Miss Rose, and the reflected or charted body permits female characters to gain a sense of power over their own bodyspace. Photographs, particularly in the final novel of the trilogy, create a delimited visual space that problematizes ethnic and gendered identities, provoking either mobility or a sense of nomadism.

In Allende’s work in general, traditionally feminine forms such as diaries and letters, experimentations with film and photography, and ventures into erotic or taboo writing all function as methods for contesting and dismantling the rules and standards that govern gender roles and center– periphery relations. As Claire Lindsay observes, Allende’s work insists upon the primacy of “feminine knowledge” (Locating 136), or the trans mission and preservation of history and experiences – whether written or photographed – through a chain of women. Each novel of the trilogy presents a female artist-protagonist whose work is driven, at least in part, by a documentary or testimonial agenda.