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"The
Greatest Poet of the 20th Century In Any Language" -
Celebrating Chilean Poet Pablo Neruda
Friday,
July 16th, 2004. Chilean poet and Nobel laureate
Pablo Neruda would have turned 100 years old this week.
Fellow Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez called
Pablo Neruda the "greatest poet of the 20th century
-- in any language." This week, many
Chilean towns and cities have been staging poetry readings
to mark Neruda's centenary.
Born the son of a railway worker, Neruda began writing
poetry when he was 14 years old and didn't stop until
his death in 1973.
A
long-standing Communist Party supporter, he died less
than two weeks after Gen Augusto Pinochet overthrew
Salvador Allende's government in a U.S.-backed coup.
His funeral became the first public show of opposition
to Chile's military rulers and his work was banned until
1990 under the Pinochet regime.
In
his Memoirs, Neruda writes: "Poetry is a deep inner
calling in man; from it came liturgy, the psalms, and
also the content of religions. The poet confronted nature's
phenomena and in the early ages called himself a priest,
to safeguard his vocation...Today's social poet is still
a member of the earliest order of priests. In the old
days he made his pact with the darkness, and now he
must interpret the light."
Martin Espada, poet and professor at the University
of Massachusetts Amherst where he teaches creative writing,
Latino poetry, and the work of Pablo Neruda. Sandra
Cisneros calls Espada the "Pablo Neruda of North
American authors." Others have called him "The
Latino Poet of his Generation." He is the winner
of the American Book Award, among other honors. He is
the Poet Laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts. He
recently returned from Chile where he was invited to
participate in the celebration of the Neruda centenary
AMY
GOODMAN: As we turn now to an anniversary of sorts,
Chilean poet and Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda would have
turned 100 years old this week. Fellow Nobel Prize-winner
Gabriel Garcia Marquez called Pablo Neruda the, quote,
greatest poet of the 20th century, in any language.
Born the son of a railway worker, Neruda began writing
poetry when he was 14 years old, didn't stop until his
death in 1973. A long-standing Communist Party supporter,
Pablo Neruda died less than two weeks after General
Augusto Pinochet overthrew Salvador Allende’s government
in a U.S.-backed coup. His funeral became the first
public show of opposition to Chile's military rulers.
His work was banned until 1990 under the Pinochet regime.
This week, many Chilean towns and cities have been staging
poetry readings to mark Neruda’s centenary while
restaurants have prepared special menus based on his
“Odes To The Onion.” We're joined right now
by Martin Espada, poet and professor at the University
Of Massachusetts, Amherst, teaching creative writing,
poetry and the work of Pablo Neruda, has just returned
from Chile. Welcome to Democracy Now!
MARTIN
ESPADA: Thank you.
AMY
GOODMAN: Great to have you with us. What was happening
in Chile around this 100th anniversary of the birth
of Pablo Neruda?
MARTIN
ESPADA: Oh so many things. There was a celebration
sponsored by the government of Chile and, in fact, I
was invited to Chile by a Presidential commission set
up for that purpose. But there was also popular celebration
throughout Chile, which really manifested itself most
clearly at Isla Negra, perhaps the most famous writers’
house in the world, belonging to Neruda. This past Sunday,
the day before his 100th birthday, an extraordinary
gathering took place there and I was very fortunate
to be there, too.
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AMY
GOODMAN: Can you talk about Pablo Neruda's significance?
MARTIN
ESPADA: I agree with the assessment of Gabriel Garcia
Marquez that he was the greatest 20th century poet for
any language. There really is a Neruda for everyone,
there’s Neruda the love poet, Neruda the surrealist
poet, the poet of historical epic, Neruda the political
poet, Neruda the poet of common things, with the odes,
the poet of sea and so on. But throughout it all, we
see with Neruda, first of all, a great compassion for
other human beings, no matter which phase of his career
we're talking about. And secondly, a deep appreciation
of the fact of being alive, which again we see at every
stage for Neruda.
AMY
GOODMAN: We're talking to Martin Espada, who has
taught for many years the work of Pablo Neruda and just
returned from Chile where there is a national celebration
going on about the life of Pablo Neruda. What about
the period at end of his life, what he understand was
happening in Chile as he died less than two weeks after
Pinochet rose to power?
MARTIN
ESPADA: Neruda's death is inseparable from the coup
that took place of course September 11, 1973, the first
September 11. And at the time, Neruda was very ill with
prostate cancer. Certainly the coup hastened his death.
He was aware what was going on. He was aware of the
destruction of Chile, the destruction of his vision
for a socialist Chile and, of course, the death of many
friends, including Salvador Allende. So these things
became inseparable: Neruda's death and the death of
democracy in Chile. It's significant that when Neruda
died, his widow, Matilda, brought his body to lay in
state at another one of his houses called 'La Chascona'
in Santiago. She did this specifically because the military
had trashed the house and she wanted the world to see
what was going on with the 'La Chascona', the house
in Santiago, but also what was happening with the coup
in Chile at the time.
AMY
GOODMAN: Yes, there were other September 11ths,
September 11, 1973 is a day Salvador Allende died in
the palace in Chile as the Pinochet forces rose to power.
And as you are teaching Pablo Neruda, when you are first
introducing students, is there a poem that you share
with them or an excerpt or a book that you recommend
they go to first?
MARTIN
ESPADA: Well, I teach Neruda, according to the chronology
of his life. It is a very easy thing to do because his
poetry reflected his life so closely in so many ways.
Certainly we often gravitate to Neruda, the political
poet and certainly there is no greater political poem
than his masterpiece, “The Heights of Maccu Picchu.”
Neruda visited the ruins of the Inca city in the Andes
In Peru in 1943 and subsequently wrote a book-length
poem in 12 parts, celebrating the achievement of Maccu
Picchu, but also condemning the oppression, the slavery,
which made it possible and ultimately in the 12th Canto,
calling upon the dead, centuries of the dead to be born
again and to speak through him.
AMY
GOODMAN: Let's hear a clip of that poem. Actually
read by Pablo Neruda, Alturas del Maccu Picchu. [Pablo
Neruda speaking in Spanish].
AMY
GOODMAN: Pablo Neruda, reading from his poem Alturas
del Machu Picchu. A special thanks to the Pacifica Network
Radio Archives that has collections of his readings
as well as tens of thousands of other recordings. Very
loose translation of this section of this epic poem.
Martin Espada.
MARTIN
ESPADA: Well, Neruda realizes, once he comes to
the heights of Machu Picchu, that this magnificent achievement
has been built on what he calls a groundwork of rags
and there's a turning point in the poem where he essentially
accuses the city, confronts the city with these questions
about the slaves that were buried there. And you can
hear the passion in his voice at this point in the poem.
You know, there is a real powerful indignation there.
And what becomes clear, you can hear from the tone of
his reading, is that there's a very, very close association
between Pablo Neruda's poetry and the idea of justice.
And the people of Chile today, even now, associate Pablo
Neruda with the idea of justice. I saw something –
AMY
GOODMAN: Five seconds.
MARTIN
ESPADA: Saw something really extraordinary at Isla
Negra when I was there. A gathering of the families
of the disappeared and the detained who came to his
tomb with photographs and placards.
AMY
GOODMAN: Martin Espada, we have to leave it there.
I want to thank you very much for joining us.
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