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46th out of 129 books
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32 voters
The Book of Questions
A best-selling volume of Pablo Neruda's poetry in an English-Spanish edition.Pablo Neruda is one of the world's most popular poets, and in The Book of Questions, Neruda refuses to be corralled by the rational mind. Composed of 316 unanswerable questions, these poems integrate the wonder of a child with the experiences of an adult. By turns Orphic, comic, surreal, and poign...more
96 pages
Published
April 1st 2001
by Copper Canyon Press
(first published 1974)
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لو خيرت في وضع تساؤلٍ إكمالاً للكتاب، فسأقول:
لماذا لم يضعوا عدداً لانهائياً من "النجمات" للتعبير عن الكتب التي لا تليق بها خمس نجوم ؟!
ديوان فاتن ، تساؤلات وجودية مدهشة ، مربكة جداً.
بابلو نيرودا عبقري في التقاط تلك الأشياء الخفية بداخلنا وبخارجنا على السواء.
لماذا لم يضعوا عدداً لانهائياً من "النجمات" للتعبير عن الكتب التي لا تليق بها خمس نجوم ؟!
ديوان فاتن ، تساؤلات وجودية مدهشة ، مربكة جداً.
بابلو نيرودا عبقري في التقاط تلك الأشياء الخفية بداخلنا وبخارجنا على السواء.
316 questions posed by the great poet just months before his death. I found more than 70 of them worth copying into my journal, and I'm not particularly compulsive about things like that. Reading them, you will probably find yourself transported to an especially thoughtful and unusual frame of mind.
Here are some personal favorites (spaced widely to try to preserve some measure of the original pacing):
Is it true that in an anthill, dreams are duty?
Am I allowed to ask my book whether it's true I w...more
Here are some personal favorites (spaced widely to try to preserve some measure of the original pacing):
Is it true that in an anthill, dreams are duty?
Am I allowed to ask my book whether it's true I w...more
اذا مت و لم أعلم بموتي فمن اسأل عن الوقت ؟
قل لي : الوردة عارية ام هو ثوبها الوحيد ؟
لما تخفي الأشجار روعة الجذور ؟
من يصغي لندم السيارة الجانية ؟
هل من أمر أشد حزنا من قطار يقف تحت المطر ؟
كم كنيسة في الجنة ؟
لماذا تنتحر الأوراق حين تشعر بالإصفرار ؟
هل السلام سلام الحمام ؟ هل يشن النمر حربا ؟
كم سؤالا عند النقطة ؟
ماذا يقول عن شعري الذين لم يمسوا دمي ؟
لماذا لا يبادر الخميس الى الحضور بعد الجمعة ؟
لماذا لا يمنح نيشان لأول ورقة ذهبية ؟
كيف علافت حبات العنب الخط الجماعي للعنقود ؟
من السيء العيش بلا جحيم : أفل...more
قل لي : الوردة عارية ام هو ثوبها الوحيد ؟
لما تخفي الأشجار روعة الجذور ؟
من يصغي لندم السيارة الجانية ؟
هل من أمر أشد حزنا من قطار يقف تحت المطر ؟
كم كنيسة في الجنة ؟
لماذا تنتحر الأوراق حين تشعر بالإصفرار ؟
هل السلام سلام الحمام ؟ هل يشن النمر حربا ؟
كم سؤالا عند النقطة ؟
ماذا يقول عن شعري الذين لم يمسوا دمي ؟
لماذا لا يبادر الخميس الى الحضور بعد الجمعة ؟
لماذا لا يمنح نيشان لأول ورقة ذهبية ؟
كيف علافت حبات العنب الخط الجماعي للعنقود ؟
من السيء العيش بلا جحيم : أفل...more
I received The Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda (Copper Canyon Press, 2001) for Christmas and started reading this slim volume right away. Here is the summary from the publisher:
"In The Book of Questions, Neruda refuses to be corralled by the rational mind. Composed of 316 unanswerable questions, these poems integrate the wonder of a child with the experiences of an adult. By turns Orphic, comic, surreal, and poignant, Neruda's questions lead the reader beyond reason into realms of intuition a...more
"In The Book of Questions, Neruda refuses to be corralled by the rational mind. Composed of 316 unanswerable questions, these poems integrate the wonder of a child with the experiences of an adult. By turns Orphic, comic, surreal, and poignant, Neruda's questions lead the reader beyond reason into realms of intuition a...more
[This so-called review, which put up more quotations from book itself than my own comments, is solely based on the English translation. I can't read nor speak Spanish, so don't read the original poems provided in this bilingual edition. And, as always, please pardon my globlish.:]
Do answers have a monopoly on expressing the truth, and questions are nothing but sidekicks, introductions, albeit necessary? Can truth only be found by way of answering questions, and not by way of expressing those q...more
Do answers have a monopoly on expressing the truth, and questions are nothing but sidekicks, introductions, albeit necessary? Can truth only be found by way of answering questions, and not by way of expressing those q...more
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Simply hilarious. The great Chilean poet wrote a book of nothing but strange, bizarre questions, like:
Tell me, is the rose naked
or is that her only dress?
Why do trees conceal
the splendor of their roots?
Who hears the regrets
of the thieving automobile?
Is there anything in the world sadder
than a train standing in the rain?
Many of them would make for great prompts for writing exercises.
Tell me, is the rose naked
or is that her only dress?
Why do trees conceal
the splendor of their roots?
Who hears the regrets
of the thieving automobile?
Is there anything in the world sadder
than a train standing in the rain?
Many of them would make for great prompts for writing exercises.
Gak terlalu suka sama puisi sebenarnya tapi judul bukunya si Pablo Neruda tuh, mengundang banget buat dibaca. Judul dalam bahasa aslinya El libro de las preguntas. Puisi-puisinya di buku ini gak berjudul. Isinya tentang berbagai macam pertanyaan. Dari mulai soal remeh-temeh sampai persoalan politik dan filosofi banget semua ada di buku ini. Neruda bahkan menulis: Cuántas preguntas tiene un gato? (How many questions does a cat have?) –VIII, hlm.8. Kayaknya kucing kalah sama Neruda. :p Berasa baca...more
This book was fantastic and amazing. The length was short, clipped even, but stuck into the very core and refused to be removed. Even now, I still feel it in me, the words tumbling around in my head and asking the same questions over and over.
I recently went on a trip and had to fly. I hate flying and have the completely irrational fear of falling and crashing. It's ridiculous, I know. When I was packing, I brought a few things for entertainment, but I also thought, 'If I'm going to die, what w...more
I recently went on a trip and had to fly. I hate flying and have the completely irrational fear of falling and crashing. It's ridiculous, I know. When I was packing, I brought a few things for entertainment, but I also thought, 'If I'm going to die, what w...more
selain faktor pengarang, saya tertarik buku ini karena judulnya. 'tanya' memang telah jadi sangat akrab bagi saya. tidak saja karena (hampir) tiap hari ada tanya yang terlontar dari benak dua bocah saya, tapi juga dari benak 'sisi bocah' saya sendiri. karya ini lahir hanya beberapa bulan sebelum kematian neruda di bulan september 1973....integrating in these poems the wonder of a child with intellectual and emotional life of an adult. begitu katanya. dan saya langsung menyukainya.
where is the ch...more
where is the ch...more
Gw suka bertanya. Tanya menurut gw adalah pembuka. Menunjukkan perhatian, menunjukkan kepedulian. Tapi ternyata ada beberapa temen yg gak suka ditanya. Entah karena pertanyaan gw, entah karena faktor gw nya. Oleh karena itu gw terus belajar untuk mengendalikan diri untuk tidak bertanya.
Begitu tahu ada buku ini, gw langsung tertarik. Buku yang isinya cuma pertanyaan-pertanyaan. Dan ..mulailah sekarang gw bertanya-tanya...
Yang enak diiringi Intro-nya bang Iwan dari album Cikal..
"dalam gelap ku be...more
Begitu tahu ada buku ini, gw langsung tertarik. Buku yang isinya cuma pertanyaan-pertanyaan. Dan ..mulailah sekarang gw bertanya-tanya...
Yang enak diiringi Intro-nya bang Iwan dari album Cikal..
"dalam gelap ku be...more
Another gem in the fine series by Copper Canyon Press. However this book is unique as all the 74 poems in this book are questions. Each poem is typically constructed on three to five stanzas with each stanza asking questions on the theme of that poem. Sometimes each stanza can stand on its own. such as: Why doesn't Thursday talk itself into coming after Friday? or How do we measure the foam that slips from the beer? Some poems cross into the next poem. All are intriguing, funny, pondering and of...more
This volume, written by the great poet months before his death, is perhaps his most challenging work. In it, he poses a series of grouped questions - questions that rarely make obvious sense grouped together and, like koans, may have an obvious surface answer but a paradoxical deeper answer. At times, the questions reach for profundity a little too strenuously. However, most active their intended function and some are quite haunting. I'd recommend this volume to anyone interested in something di...more
I have always loved reading poems in Spanish and then English, but with Neruda, I find I disagree with the translations and think they are more powerful if the Spanish rhythm is preserved. They might seem awkward at first, but then it becomes natural, lyrical. A good example is:
Como se reparten el sol en el naranjo las naranjas?
My translation: How is the sunlight divided by the oranges in the orange tree? This translation’s imagery brings the division of the sun’s ray or the sunlight to the fore...more
Como se reparten el sol en el naranjo las naranjas?
My translation: How is the sunlight divided by the oranges in the orange tree? This translation’s imagery brings the division of the sun’s ray or the sunlight to the fore...more
I picked up this slender volume of poems at a bookstore in Denver, carried it around the store, put it down, went back the next day and picked it up again. Ultimately didn't buy it - why not? - no idea. Over the months, I would randomly remember a line or part of a question, but not completely, like trying to remember a dream after coffee, over pie. These poems were sort of wiggling around like worms, hidden but churning up meaning and connection. I found it used at a bookstore, picked it up. Di...more
A great book to read while your mind is fighting to acquire language. Strange, unexpected questions that don't demand answers, that just drift. Which is not to suggest that they aren't important. Some of these questions scorched:
And does the father who lives in your dreams
die again when you awaken?
Others were just pure delight in image:
Which yellow bird
fills its nest with lemons?
A lot here. Recently visited Neruda's house in Isla Negra, and, wow, it was lavish. Neruda was quite the collector...more
And does the father who lives in your dreams
die again when you awaken?
Others were just pure delight in image:
Which yellow bird
fills its nest with lemons?
A lot here. Recently visited Neruda's house in Isla Negra, and, wow, it was lavish. Neruda was quite the collector...more
I have always loved Neruda, and I bought this book because it was written in the last months of his life. My father is currently dying of cancer, and everyone in my family is searching for ways to shape our emotions right now. Neruda has always done such a beautiful job plucking the strings of love and love-lost, I was hoping he could give a voice a emotion that can't be contained by the word "grief." Rather than simplify or contain his words made a noise my heart recognized.
نيرودا يلقي بتساؤلاته الأخيرة دون بحثٍ عن الجواب و قد كان هذا كتابه الأخير بالمناسبة، تساؤلاته الكونية و الفلسفية الجاد منها و الهازل ، تساؤلاته في الحب في الطبيعة في كل شيء تقريباً . يتسائل كم سؤالاً عند القطة و كيف نالت الدراجة المهجورة حريتها و عن الشمس كم تبدو مؤذية في الصحراء و لطيفة في حديقة المستشفى و لماذا يغدو الضباب أخضراً في باتاغونيا و لماذا اختار الجبن فرنسا مقراً لبطولاته و ما الذي يدفع البطيخ للضحك ساعة ذبحه و الكثير من التساؤلات الشهيّة .
Every other line on every page in my copy of this book is underlined. I can't remember why. But I do know that one semester, I believed this book held the answer to everything. Everything, of course, not being terribly quantifiable. Nonetheless, the experience of reading this book led me to believe "this is IT." What is IT? I don't know. IT is, like the Blues, as Billie Holiday said, "a mixed up thing. You've just got to feel it."
Buku yang saya sukai adalah buku yang mengharuskan saya menuangkan dulu koleksi hal-hal rasional ke suatu tempat kemudian ketika sudah kosong and open with every little oddness thing about to face, there i able to taste it. Salah satunya The Book of Questions.
Buku ini berisi 300 lebih pertanyaan-pertanyaan aneh. Kretifitas Neruda mirip sebuah kegilaan.
Dia bertanya-tanya kemana pergi mimpi setelah kita bangun (apa mengalir ke mimpi orang lain) ,dia bertanya kepada siapa nasi menyunggingkan senyum...more
Buku ini berisi 300 lebih pertanyaan-pertanyaan aneh. Kretifitas Neruda mirip sebuah kegilaan.
Dia bertanya-tanya kemana pergi mimpi setelah kita bangun (apa mengalir ke mimpi orang lain) ,dia bertanya kepada siapa nasi menyunggingkan senyum...more
I am reading an re-reading this book. The translator, William O'Daly, visited our home Poets Salon and gave a program on his work,read his own poems as well as his translations of Neruda's. We are reading this at Caltech Poetry Club (The Red Door Poets) in Pasadena, and treasure the contact with him as well as the beauty and surreal enigmatic nature of the text. "How many bees are there in a day?"
The peace we achieve when we embrace the fact that there are questions that we may ask, that others may ask, which do not have answers, and whose answers should not be searched for. Who better to guide us into this place of inner peace and oneness with nature than Neruda?
His last one, and one of the very best. I am very thankful for the beauty that emerged from his mind and into our hands.
His last one, and one of the very best. I am very thankful for the beauty that emerged from his mind and into our hands.
This book was all poems that were questions. I thought a lot of them were beautiful, and the structure of the book made it seem like you could read the book all the way through, or flip around and get the same experience. The questions on each poem were sometimes related to each other, and sometimes not. I thought it was fun to read a book that had a different format.
I love this book. I realize while I'm reading it that my mind is both: 1)reading the question and thinking about it; and 2)seemingly hopping from one brain hemisphere to the other. Something is happening, it's fascinating! I wonder if there is a relationship between enjoyment of these poems and 'open-mindedness' as a character trait. Wonderful images and emotional journeys.
Un sin fin de preguntas existenciales, con muy pocas respuestas...
Te hace pensar, revolver pensamientos en la cabeza de todo lo que sabemos del universo.
¿Qué preguntas se haría un poeta como Neruda? Esas mismas. Es un libro que nos sumerge en la mente de este grandioso poeta, demuestra que la poesía no es lógica, es estética y hermosa.
Te hace pensar, revolver pensamientos en la cabeza de todo lo que sabemos del universo.
¿Qué preguntas se haría un poeta como Neruda? Esas mismas. Es un libro que nos sumerge en la mente de este grandioso poeta, demuestra que la poesía no es lógica, es estética y hermosa.
A quién le puedo preguntar
Qué vine a hacer en este mundo?
Por qué me muevo sin querer,
Por qué no puedo estar inmóvil?
Por qué voy rodando sin ruedas,
Volando sin alas ni plumas
Preguntas poéticas sin respuestas, que te hacen pensar. Otra maravilla de Neruda, grande entre los grandes.
I had read this bilingual book a number of years ago but wanted to read it again after reading The Dreamer. I love the questions Neruda asks in poetry style in this book! These questions would be a great starting point in getting students (and educators, too!) to write similar kinds of questions.
one of those works worth reading over and over again at different moments in your life, if only to ponder and stare and sleep. then wake up and read another time with a different answer or thought maps from the same questions
Questions are so important. And Neruda asks such satisfying ones. My answers to some of those questions come up in charming little images on which I will ruminate for a while, then hopefully turn into poems of their own.
Nov 17, 2011
Free
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who reads poetry or is curious about poetry.
The Book of Questions / El Libro de las preguntas
Once I have read every poem, this book it will remain on my nightstand with other favorite books. I don't read the pages in order - this isn't that kind of book: some of the questions are serious and some make me laugh. Reading the poems in Spanish, in the language of the poet makes them more meaningful.
Once I have read every poem, this book it will remain on my nightstand with other favorite books. I don't read the pages in order - this isn't that kind of book: some of the questions are serious and some make me laugh. Reading the poems in Spanish, in the language of the poet makes them more meaningful.
Neruda questions what we think is true and real and living in front of our eyes. I want to settle into these questions, never answering where the rainbow ends.
"Where does the rainbow end,
in your soul or on the horizon?"
"Where does the rainbow end,
in your soul or on the horizon?"
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Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean writer and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. Neruda assumed his pen name as a teenager, partly because it was in vogue, partly to hide his poetry from his father, a rigid man who wanted his son to have a "practical" occupation. Neruda's pen name was derived from Czech writer and poet Jan Neruda; Pablo is thought to be fro...more
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