71 THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS (ISABEL ALLENDE) ,. “Of Labyrinths in Isabel Allende’s he House of the Spirits” by Maria Odette Canivell, James Madison University he French novelist Alain Robbe-Grillet claims that as soon as “a modern architect is given a project, he draws a labyrinth” (in Stolzfus 292). Mankind appears to be fascinated by the image of labyrinths, these connecting networks of intricate winding passages where the exploration of life and death is made possible and the study of the human soul can take place. Artists, writers, and philosophers have used the image of the maze to symbolize man’s struggle, the perpetual conlict between mind and soul, our fears and hopes, as well as the inexplicable paradox of mankind’s fate. Labyrinths are a locus of spiritual growth, magical quests and representations of human struggle where past, present, and future conlate into a single unit, an archetype for the inner world. Confusing and disorienting, mazes represent “a symbol of human consciousness, a metaphor of the mind coping with experience” (Privateer 92), where complex systems of preordained rules allow safe passage to the center. A careful reading of Isabel Allende’s he House of the Spirits will highlight her masterful use of the archetype to tell a story of family and country. Allende’s labyrinth is a site of hope. he Chilean author suggests that “creativity and innovation require a transgression of ixed bound- aries” (Levine 34); therefore her mazes defy the stereotype of the