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Neruda de 1904–1936 by Jaime Concha, and: Neruda's Sins by Hernán Loyola (review)

2023; American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese; Volume: 106; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/hpn.2023.a899438

2153-6414

Comparative Literary Analysis and Criticism

Reviewed by: Neruda de 1904–1936 by Jaime Concha, and: Neruda's Sins by Hernán Loyola Ronald Friis and Katherine McCann Concha, Jaime. Neruda de 1904–1936. Editorial A Contracorriente, 2022. Pp. 282. ISBN 978-1-4696-7090-4. Loyola, Hernán. Neruda's Sins. Translated by Greg Dawes, Editorial A Contracorriente, 2022. Pp. 209. ISBN 978-1-4696-7200-7. As we approach the one hundredth anniversary of Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada (1924), it is safe to say that Pablo Neruda remains one of the most internationally recognizable and quoted literary personalities from Latin America. The appearance of two new studies on Neruda from Editorial A Contracorriente attests equally to the poet's enduring presence as a writer of unparalleled range and virtuosity but also as a man of polemical political [End Page 317] beliefs and a personal moral code that is being seen as increasingly incompatible with today's standards. Neruda de 1904–1936 by eminent scholar Jaime Concha is a reprint of a book by the same name written between 1968 and 1970 that was scarcely available outside of Chile. The first of the book's four long chapters, "Así son las cosas por allá en la frontera," is dedicated to Neftalí Reyes's move from Parral to Temuco, where he arrived, in Neruda's later description, "sin habla" (32). This section reflects the strengths of the volume as a whole in that it pairs analysis of Neruda's social context with sharp-eyed close readings of the poet's early work. Concha treats Neruda's youthful poems and prose with an appropriate sense of balance as he explores the inevitable influences of French Symbolism, the modernistas, Gabriela Mistral, and Huidobro in Crepusculario. While many of the poems and poets mentioned above are familiar to Neruda's readers, Concha makes sure to underline the importance of place to Neruda's formative years. Temuco is vividly described as a frontier city marked by wars with the Mapuche, Perú, and Bolivia. The description of Neruda's contact with nature in Temuco not only focuses on the expected experiences of abundant beauty that would inform his later work ("su intensa vocación hacia lo material" (58)) but also, in keeping with Concha's critical perspective, the rhythms of work, trains, and workers from the timber industry. The critic likens the arrival of capitalism to the coming of new conquistadores and describes how Neruda must have viewed Temuco as a sort of primitive Communist state (59). Concha's Marxist perspective deepens in "No sabría decir de mí ni de nadie" which describes the poet's move to Santiago and subsequent life as a student and writer. In the capital, Neruda, still "un sujeto hasta el momento pre-poético" (69), dons his famous cape and enjoys new freedoms and "alegría estudiantil" (83). Concha attributes Neruda's study of French to his socioeconomic position as petit bourgeois and Santiago is portrayed as being ripe with opportunities for consumption of books, culture, prostitutes, and alcoholic beverages, as well as being a place for encounters with the poor and workers. The chapter explores Crepusculario as lying at the intersection of three vectors: student life, adolescence, and anagnorisis (84). Concha's Marxist analysis of the symbolism of hands (for social climbing, the calloused hands of workers, the outstretched palm of beggars, etc.) in Crepusculario is particularly engaging and despite the early collection's "anclaje modernista" the critic also uncovers young Neruda's first moments of "conciencia social" (105). The chapter's second movement contains a long, detailed review of the sociopolitical context of the early 20s in Chile (Alessandri, Recabarren, anarchism, class structure, the worker's movement, student groups, etc.) that will help students and scholars view Neruda's work in the Marxist context the bard undoubtedly would have preferred. Chapter 3 deals primarily with Neruda's poems about women. The section opens with the awkward essay entitled "Sexo" published in Claridad in 1921 by the 17-year-old poet, and then moves on to some of the lesser studied poetry like El hondero entusiasta and Tentativa del hombre infinito. The main passage here, however, is Concha...