Mike
asked
Mark Eisner:
Your wonderful and deeply immersive Neruda biography kept me up until 3 in the morning last night, and I am looking forward to this leisurely weekend to finish it and add it to my Neruda shelf. I was introduced to Neruda and his work by my mentor, the poet Martín Espada, when I studied with him at UMass in the mid 1990's. What was your first exposure to Neruda's poetry?
Mark Eisner
Wow, Mike! Thank you. Reactions like yours show why this was all worth it, truly. And you'll see our friend Martin in the acknowledgements!
As I allude to it some in the intro, I believe, I had some general exposure to him when I was in college, not really sure, but definitely when I studied abroad in Central America my junior year-- I took down a bilingual copy of Selected Poems, and just everywhere I went, his words made my experience a bit more real, his impression growing in me:
I found myself doing fieldwork in the highlands of El Salvador, observing as the National Association of Agricultural Workers helped set up coffee cooperatives among the campesinos. This was following the first rounds of land reform, two years after peace accords had ended the country’s horrific civil war. Reading Neruda’s poetry at night made the history—the human experience of it—palpably real to me. The depth and simplicity of Neruda’s portrayal of humanity in the poems hit my soul.
When I returned, I did just kind of have him and that book just up there with other favorite books for a few years after I graduated from college (Michigan) until I started backpacking around Latin America:
I headed south again, with the same weathered book in my tattered green pack. Eventually I reached Chile, that slender country sliding off toward towards Antarctica. Somehow I found myself working on a ranch in its Central Valleycentral valley, nestled between the Andes and the sea. This was certainly part of Neruda’s territory, his terroir: here grew the grapes that made his velvet red wine and the red poppies that flower in his verse.
and well, one Nerudian experience after another, and I ended up starting to do my own translations on that ranch, which eventually ended up leading to The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems, and then a small film project, and then someone asking me to write the biography!
Thank you again, Mike, for taking the time to share your thoughts. They make my heart and soul come alive. Please let me know how you find the rest of the book (and please tell others about it!)
Truly,
Mark
As I allude to it some in the intro, I believe, I had some general exposure to him when I was in college, not really sure, but definitely when I studied abroad in Central America my junior year-- I took down a bilingual copy of Selected Poems, and just everywhere I went, his words made my experience a bit more real, his impression growing in me:
I found myself doing fieldwork in the highlands of El Salvador, observing as the National Association of Agricultural Workers helped set up coffee cooperatives among the campesinos. This was following the first rounds of land reform, two years after peace accords had ended the country’s horrific civil war. Reading Neruda’s poetry at night made the history—the human experience of it—palpably real to me. The depth and simplicity of Neruda’s portrayal of humanity in the poems hit my soul.
When I returned, I did just kind of have him and that book just up there with other favorite books for a few years after I graduated from college (Michigan) until I started backpacking around Latin America:
I headed south again, with the same weathered book in my tattered green pack. Eventually I reached Chile, that slender country sliding off toward towards Antarctica. Somehow I found myself working on a ranch in its Central Valleycentral valley, nestled between the Andes and the sea. This was certainly part of Neruda’s territory, his terroir: here grew the grapes that made his velvet red wine and the red poppies that flower in his verse.
and well, one Nerudian experience after another, and I ended up starting to do my own translations on that ranch, which eventually ended up leading to The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems, and then a small film project, and then someone asking me to write the biography!
Thank you again, Mike, for taking the time to share your thoughts. They make my heart and soul come alive. Please let me know how you find the rest of the book (and please tell others about it!)
Truly,
Mark
More Answered Questions
Robert Teeter
asked
Mark Eisner:
After having read a large helping of Neruda's poetry over the past few years, I just finished your biography and loved it. (Will write a full review soon.) I have a question: What is the source of the quote, "Podrán cortar todas las flores, pero no podrán detener la primavera"? I see it quoted a lot, and as you say it's been revived for some recent political movements, but I haven't found the source. Thank you.
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