The novel has been taught in a significant number of school curricula around the world, notably for its use of magical realism, and as a translated Latin American novel. Educational organizations such as the International Baccalaureate recognize it as a world literature study book.[6][7][8]
Censorship in the United States
However, The House of the Spirits in United States school curriculum has been challenged on multiple occasions, most often for the stated reasons of explicit sexual content and depictions of violence. For instance, in Virginia, a parent initially brought attention to the novel’s explicit content in 1997 by passing out “packets of excerpts from The House of Spirits with the heading “Would you allow your 16-year-old daughter to read this material? And if not, why should the public school be allowed to require my 16-year-old daughter to read this material?”[9] Despite this demonstration, the Virginia county’s school board voted not to ban the novel from school curriculum. Similarly, in Maryland, the novel was brought to the attention of the school board in Montgomery County for its explicit content, specifically the depiction of necrophilia—“in which a young medical student kisses a female corpse,” referring to the molestation of the body of Rosa the Beautiful.[9] In California counties in 1999 and 2000, the novel was challenged for its anti-Christian views, pornographic depictions, and “violence and sexual abuse”.[9]
