Autorentext

Jason Wilson

Klappentext

Pablo Neruda was without doubt one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. However, his work is extremely uneven, and long. The companion examines the view that there are two Nerudas, an early Romantic visionary and a later Marxist populist, who denied his earlier poetic self. By focussing on the poet's apprenticeship, his struggle to read and incorporate French poetry and travel abroad and by looking closely at how Neruda created his poetic persona within his poems, this companion tries to establish what should survive of his massive output. By seeing his early work as self exploration through metaphor and sound, as well as through varieties of love and direct experience, the companion outlines a unity behind all the work, based on voice and a public self. This companion studies Neruda's debt to reading and books in depth and re-examines his change in poetics by concentrating on the early work up to Residencia en la tierra and II and why he wanted to become a poet. Many critics have argued that some kind of critical assessment must be made in order for Neruda's later work to be read. This companion grounds this debate about quality and representativity in his Romantic thinking, sensibility and sincerity. Unlike a Borges or a Paz who accompanied their creative work with analytical essays, Neruda distilled all his experiences into his poems, which remain his true biography.

Zusammenfassung
The making of a great Chilean poet.

Inhalt

Introduction The 1920s: from Crepusculario to *Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada, 1924 The 1920s: from El hondero entusiasta to El habitante y su esperanza The 1920s and 1930s: Residencia en la tierra The 1940s: from Alturas de Macchu Picchu to Canto general The 1950s: from Los versos del capitán to Cien sonetos de amor Post 1960s Poetry: from Plenos poderes to La rosa separada