Born: July 12, 1904Died: September 23, 1973
Years Active: 1923-1973
Genre: Latin American Poet
Biography
Born Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto in 1904 to Jose del Carmen Reyes and Rosa Basoalto in Parral, Chile. Neruda was raised by his father after his mothers death from tuberculosis during his childhood. His father, a railway worker, insisted Neruda be educated and moved the family to Temuco. While studying Neruda met Gabriela Mistral, Nobel Prize winning poet of 1945, who introduced a twelve year old Neruda to poetry. At the age of seventeen Neruda began his studies of French at the University of Chile in Santiago at the insistence of his father. While at University, Neruda began writing poetry and won the first prize in the Federacion de Estudiates poetry contest in 1921. He then went on to publish his poetry in the Claridad. In 1922, Neruda left University and declared himself a poet and political activist. It is here that he took the pen name Pablo Neruda, after the Czech poet, Jan Neruda.
He self published his first book, Crepsculario, in 1923, followed by Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, which becomes his most wide read book. Desperate for a job, Neruda took a position representing Chile as a diplomat in Burma. This begins his long career as a Chilean diplomate which takes him to exotic locations including Ceylon, Jakarta, Java, and Singapore. It is in Java where he meets his first wife, Maryka Vogelzang. Neruda serves as a diplomat in Buenos Aires and Barcelona before his life altering post in Madrid.
1934 marks the birth of his daughter, Malva, and the formation of his friendships with Rafael Alberti, Federico Garcia Lorca, and Cesar Vallejo. This group of influential writers were politically active and wrote of the contemporary changes occurring in Spain in the years leading up to the Spanish Civil War. His presence in Spain during the civil war marks a change in his poetry for the remainder of his life. After witnessing the execution of his friend Garcia Lorca in 1936, Neruda moved to Paris, where he organized safe passage of Spanish refugees of the civil war to Chile.
Neruda returned to his homeland in the early 1940's to write about his native land in The Heights of Machu Pichu and inspires his interest in the ancient Americas. He married his second wife, Delia del Carril of Argentina in 1943. In the late 1940's, the Chilean government moved to the right, forcing all the leftists writers and political figures to flee the country. Neruda and his communist contemporaries went into hiding and then exile in 1948. Inspired by his exile, Neruda wrote Spain in the Heart and Canto General before his return to Chile in 1952. A fervent communist, Neruda landed on the the Congress of Cultural Freedom's (an anti-communist group, funded by the CIA) primary target list. He spoke out against the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam war, and the role the US played.
The final stage of his life was Neruda's most prolific. In the final thirteen years of his life, Neruda produced 16 more works of poetry. He won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature and is called the Picasso of poetry. He served his final diplomatic post from 1970-72 in France. Ill with prostate cancer, Neruda returned to Chile with his nurse and lover, Matilde Urrutia to spend the remainder of his life. He died of heart complications twelve days after the military coup overthrew Neruda's hopes of a marxist Chile.
Works Produced
Drama
Romeo y Juliet (translation of Shakespeare), 1963
Fulgor y muerte de Joaquin Murieta, 1967
Long Fiction
El habitante y su esperanza, 1926
Nonfiction
Anillos, 1926
Viajes, 1955
Comiendo en Hungria, 1968
Confieso que he vivido: Memorias, 1974
Cartas de amor, 1974
Lo major de Anatole France, 1976
Para nacer he nacido, 1978
Cartas a Laura, 1978
Correspondencia durante "Residencia en la tierra", 1980
Poetry
Crepusculario, 1923
Veinte poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada, 1924
Tentativa del hombre infinito, 1926
El hondero entusiasta, 1933
Residencia en la tierra, 1933, 1935, 1947 (3 Vol.)
Espana en el corazon, 1937
Alturas de Machu Picho, 1948
Canto General, 1950
Los versos del capitan, 1952
Odas elementales, 1954
Las uvas y el viento, 1954
Nuevas odas elementales, 1956
Tercer libro de odas, 1957
Estravagario, 1958
Navegaciones y regresos, 1959
Cien sonetos de amor, 1959
Cancion de gesta, 1960
Las piedras de Chile, 1961
Cantos ceremoniales, 1962
Plenos poderes, 1962
Memorial de Isla Negra, 1964
Una casa en la arena, 1966
Arte de pajaros, 1966
La barcarola, 1967
Las manos del dia, 1968
Fin de mundo, 1969
Aun, 1969
Selected Poems, 1970
Las piedras del cielo, 1970
La espada encendida, 1970
New Poems, 1968-70, 1972
Geografia infructuosa, 1972
La rosa separada, 1973
Incitasion al Nixonicidio y alabanza de la revolucion chilena, 1973
El mar y las campanas, 1973
Pablo Neruda: Five Decades, a Selection of Poems (1925-70), 1974
Libro de las preguntas, 1974
Jardin de invierno, 1974
Elegia, 1974
El mal y el malo, 1974
El corazon amarillo, 1974
Defectos escogidos, 1974
2000, 1974
El rio invisible: Poesia y prosa de juventud, 1980
The Poetry of Pablo Neruda, 2003
Moods
Nocturnal
"I did not have the right to declare
that I existed: I was a child of the moon"
(Child of the Moon)
Aquatic
"Power of the sea, unknown
author of motion"
(The Bottom)
Revolutionary
"We must take to the streets
in resurrection of the portraits"
(Dead Portraits)
Sensual
"Body of a woman, white hills, white thighs
You look like a world, lying in surrender"
(Body of a Woman)
Ominous
"as forced to burn something over the black waters, and devoured
a vanished breath and an extreme liquor."
(Burial at the East)
Groups/Movements: Latin American Boom
The Latin American Boom began with writers in the 1960's and 70's and continued into the 1980's. Their objective was to reach a wide circulation in Europe and then the world. They challenged existing conventions of Latin American literature. The literature is experimental and infused with political themes due to the changes occurring in Latin America at the time, including the Cuban revolution and then the Chilean coup in 1973. The literature often has a non linear timeline and more than one narrative voice. Themes include internationalism, awareness of national identity, world/hemispheric issues, economic and ideaologic issues. Magical realism and historical fiction were the most popular movements within this group.
Pablo Neruda belonged to many groups and movements in his five decades of work, I chose to focus on the Latin American Boom because I didn't know much about it and found it quite interesting. He became part of the group later in his life after his exile from Chile writing about his native country in Alturas de Machu Pichu and Canto General. His political poetry existed throughout his life, but became more influential locally during the changes occurring in Post World War II Latin America.
Similar Artists
1)Cesar Vallejo - A Peruvian poet, who befriended Neruda in the 1930's during their time in Spain. Part of a larger literary circle in the pre-Franco era. They both wrote of current issues important to them, mostly political. After the Spanish Civil War, Vallejo reacted to the changes and wrote revolutionary poetry, much like Nerudas reaction to the war. Both poets also originated from Latin America and spent much of their lives in Europe expanding the publications of Latin American writers.
2) Julio Cortazar - Born in Belgium to Argentine parents, he was raised in Argentina. He was part of the Latin American boom around the same time as Neruda. While better known as a short story writer than a poet, his goals were to expand the knowledge of Latin American issues. Much like Neruda, his writing reflects the changes occurring in Latin America in the 1950's and 60's. Both Neruda and Cortazar also supported Salvadore Allende in his run for presidency of Chile. Their leftist ideals of politics band Neruda and Cortazar in style.
Followers
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Marquez is part of the later Latin American Boom and called Neruda "one of the greatest poets of the 20th century in any language." Following his forefathers in writing about Latin American culture and issues, Marquez draws from basic human concern, which can also be seen in Nerudas work. Marquez while similar to Neruda had more magical realism than Neruda in his later work. Marquez also went on to win the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Influences
1) Gabriela Mistral - This 1945 Nobel prize winner was the first person to introduce young Neruda to poetry. Without her he may have never found his true calling in life. She also supported his passion of poetry when his father disapproved of his writing and literature.
2) Federico Garcia Lorca - A few years older than Neruda, Lorca and Neruda met in Spain in the 1930's to form a tight knit literary circle who wrote about contemporary political issues. Lorca was also part of the surrealism movement, which is noticed in Nerudas works from post Spanish Civil war until his exile from Chile. Watching the execution of his friend, Lorca, drove Neruda's poems to be much more politically driven.
Works Consulted
Literary Reference Center
Pablo Neruda, 1904-1923
Neruda, Pablo. Selected Poems: Bilingual Edition Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1970
Neruda, Pablo, The Hands of Day, Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, 1968
Translated by William O'Daly, 2008
