Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 12

IT FEE MONDAY JUNE 7, 1993 LATIN HON if of li 4 Passionate author brings dreams to America By Margaria Fichtner Knight-Ridder Tribune Isabel very time I publish a new book, there is a moment of panic because you BBC Enterprises Clive James (center) examines the nature of fame in a PBS series beginning today. An nde don't know how it will be received," says Isabel Allende, her voice trilling and rippling from Salt Lake City like a chime in the wind. "But it's already written, and, anyway, I don't have a lot of choice. Somehow, the story chooses me." This spring, the story in question is The Infinite Plan (HarperCollins, $23). Allende's first novel to be set in the United States, it is more constrained in imagery and narrative than her masterful 1985 best seller, The House of the Spirits, or any of its laudable successors: Of i 7 I Jr ij te.s IF YOU WATCH Clive James' Fame in the 20th Century WHEN: 9 p.m.

today-Thursday, repeated 12:30 a.m. Tuesday-Friday and 8 p.m. Mondays beginning June 14. WHERE KAET-TV (Channel 8). Latin American writer Isabel Allende's new novel is her first set in the United States.

It opens with the travails of a ragtag preacher crisscrossing the West in a wagon to promote his vision of the meaning of life and the nature of the universe. By the end, its hucksters, hookers and sanctified souls have hopscotched from the Los Angeles barrio to Vietnam to the pressure-cooker offices of a San Francisco law firm. would never have written a book set in the United States had she not succumbed to an infinite plan and fallen in love with a gringo. Almost six years ago, "I was on a tour, like now, where you spend one night in every city and take a plane every day." In San Jose, Allende then living in Venezuela and savoring freedom after a long, passionless marriage met San Francisco lawyer William "Willie" Gordon. "He had read my second novel and fallen in love with it, so he went to the reading, and afterward, we went for dinner with a group of people, and we just locked in.

And I moved into his house, thinking that would get him out of my system in a week. And now my question is, 'Why are we still He's very blond, very white, blue eyes. I look like a Martian when we are together. And he likes tall blondes. Can you imagine? So he had to compromise for less.

Much less. Like a foot less. It's a miracle that it worked. Now he lives with this Latin tribe. Poor guy.

He was supposed to be a sexy bachelor in San Francisco, and he ended up like this. Stuck." The couple now live on a moun-taintop in San Rafael, Calif. Even if the rococo green-haired mermaids, rubber-boned boys, mute clairvoyants, celebrity transvestites, asparagus gardens, buxom iguanas and mad cmbalmers of Allende's previous books are gone for good, she will "never run out of stories in California. There are so many weirdos floating around, you can't go wrong. I'm a foreigner, an outsider, and I think I'm in a privileged position.

What other people take for granted, See LATIN, page C2 IIJiFlitfllTf A .) Love and Shadows (1987), Eva Luna (1988) or The Stories of Eva Luna (1989). No matter. This latest Allende proves itself the best sort of literary high-wire act, wringing enchantment from tension, danger, courage and style. So far, critical response has been gratifying, and even Iron Man author Robert Bly praises the book's vision and ambition in his review for The New York Times. Allende's enthronement as the most widely read Latin American female writer in history remains secure.

r. RICHARD MLSEN The Arizona Republic Isabel have to lock myself in to write." The irony of the site could not have been lost on Allende, who opens this new novel with the travails of a ragtag preacher crisscrossing the West in a wagon to promote his vision of the meaning of life and the nature of the universe. By the end, the plot and its hucksters, hookers and sanctified souls have hopscotched from the Los Best of all, "I'm getting very good feedback from readers," says Allende, a native of Chile who is on a three-week U.S. tour. "Yesterday in Seattle, I had more than 800 people.

They didn't fit in the bookstore, so we had to move to a church. What a sense of 'power' it gives you to be in a church!" Angeles barrio to Vietnam to the pressure-cooker offices of a San Francisco law firm. An infinite plan But know this; Allende feminist, activist, a woman permanently haunted by Latin visions, dreams, passions, obsessions and ghosts British critic takes aim at fame game Japanese, Phoenicians 'speak' with respect Barwood and Assistant City Manager Sheryl Sculley. Commanding a cure "It changes your life drastically," said Laura Eller. She and her husband Scott (son of Karl and Stevie Eller) have committed themselves to aid in the search for finding a cure for diabetes.

Two years KATHY SHOCKET Republic Correspondent ml II I i I A A. d. aat--V j.t.1. it. -J ago, their 8-year-old daughter, Elissa, as ith Type A juvenile diabetes.

"Shi has to poke her fir, t-it four times a day and check her bloix! Laura "It's such a remcnted lifestyle torcevwe so Scott and LaiU'x the owners of the River Opiy. hosr.ii a Saturday mii'ic concert benefit. 1.000 turned oik tvvgie-wixigic Willi Ccrttmander Cjiiv inj His Lost leaner. The miow raise Clive James is world-famous in England, but he hasn't achieved world fame in America, where it counts. Although his books are available here, his television programs with rare exception haven't been.

James is a novelist, poet, essayist and British TV personality, but it is only the last that brings him what level of fame he has achieved. In England, he is known as a wasp-tongucd social critic who pirouettes on the well-turned bon mot with a permanently arched eyebrow. He is now host of an eight-hour PBS series on fame that begins airing today on KAET-TV (Channel 8). It is called Clive James' Fame in the 20th Century, and its premise is that fame has changed in this century, to become a Frankenstein monster with a life of its own. In previous centuries, one had to do something to be famous, but increasingly over the past 90 years, one has to be famous to do something.

Today, he says, "One has to become famous in order to gain power and accomplish something. I can't imagine anyone getting elected to the presidency who hasn't proven his capacity to attract public interest or be marketable as a public figure." It is also his contention that the metamorphosis of fame depends on the rise of two things: The growth of mass media and that of the United States as a cultural world power. He is not altogether convinced that either is a good thing. "Everywhere else, famous people made history," he says. "In America, they made movies." He also asks of American democracy, "How could superior ability flourish in a culture ruled by a talking mouse?" Heroism and celebrity It isn't all America-bashing, though.

James has an ambivalent reaction to England's giant baby brother across the sea. The fact is, he explains, fame is fascinating. We can't take our eyes off it. "But we really shouldn't be fascinated morally, that is. That's what's so fascinating." Over the eight episodes (shown two per rfighT) he parades before us about 250 people who have achieved fame in this century.

Some are genuine heroes, like Gandhi or Mother Teresa; others are merely celebrities. The problem with fame is that it doesn't distinguish between the two groups. Charles Lindbergh was a hero first, then a celebrity; a death-defying pilot first, then the father of "the Lindbergh baby." Many people began their fame by doing something acting in movies, for instance but their fame didn't stop when they did. See Wim, page C2 Christa Johnson (left), wife of Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson, is shown by Masumi Yagi how to greet Himeji, Japan, Mayor Matsuji Totani. Johnson (above) gives Totani a Native American mask as translator Fumiko Tanaka looks on.

m.i.iiiil.ii nh. iiiiir W' Mi I iji Ti lf n-'niiir-tfi -r -ura-ffir "-nmffln lm iHM-p- The mayor of Himeji, Japan Matsuji Totani doesn't speak English. Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson doesn't speak Japanese. Yet they were able to enjoy and share each other's cultures. Phoenix officials and business leaders who were involved in Japan Week were anxious to share what they had learned about our overseas guests.

"Present your business card with two hands," Doug Wilson of the U.S. Information Agency stressed. "It's a sign of respect. The higher the person's position, the lower you bow." (I've done a lot of bowing this weekend, and a lot of smiling, and had my picture taken numerous times by my new friends.) "We have asked Mayor Totani to go back and ask his citizens to cheer for the Phoenix Suns," said Mike Tiffany of the Sister Cities Commission as he presented the Himeji City Council with Suns T-shirts. Among the private receptions that Mayor Tall Paul and his petite wife Christ hosted was a lunch Sunday at the Arizona Club for the visiting dignitaries.

Guests who shared the traditional gift exchange between the mayors, their wives and council members (gifts are a very important sign of respect in the Japanese culture) included Paula West, Alan Kennedy, Andy Conlin, Zelda Faugen and Janice Duhame. At Friday evening's private reception at the Arizona Biltmore, guests of the Phoenix mayor included U.S. Rep. Sam Coppersmith, Carol Clements, and Sanf ord Love. Friday afternoon, Phoenix Councilwoman Thelda Williams hosted a tea for Hisako Totani, the wife of Himeji's mayor.

Antong the 15 guests were couneilwomen Kathy Dubs and Frances Emma 1 1X -c. jZT'k -r- unriirrTnir- mymKUI'mmm' Ti n1k i' ti irthe Juvenile Diabetes Fouiiuancir, Fiber-iffic! The cream ut' the cotton gathered at the Caincibativ en Saturday night to pick the ojtn.ii the Arizona Maid of Cotton. Annniir, those vying for the title weie Slaci Jtffkovitz, Vicki Brunsftsld, Juiit Jonnson. Kristina Petersen, Shook, Kristina Smitn, ilv Stover, Virkine Vaienzuia imi Valerie Waeschie. Last year's winner.

Auurd L.jjrwn, passed on her title to Ctieryi Fauiknjr, 20, a junior at the L'mveiMty ui Vi i.a'iiA Jodi Low, 20, was fust ruiinct-itf, aitU Yvonne Nichols, 21, was xuud runner-up. Karen Stephens chaiitai Arizona Cotton Cotillion, pt.Mioicd ty the Phoenix Cotton Wives. Vlukiiijj titetr entrance were debutantes T3f3 Accomazzo, Lindy Ailert, Branch, Farrah Peabody 3rwA and Laura Rovey. Kjthy Shockttt is Mso a rp.ttw tw KTSr-TV 1 0). Photos by Bayard HortonSpil 'or Th Aiikhi pubiic Commander Cody (left) poses with Red River Opry co-owner Scott Eller and Shari Christie of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation before a fund-raising concert Saturday night..