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The making of a great Chilean poet.

Pablo Neruda was without doubt one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century but his work is extremely uneven. There is a view that there are two Nerudas, an early Romantic visionary and a later Marxist populist, who denied his earlier poetic self. By focussing on the poet's apprenticeship, and by looking closely at how Neruda created his poetic persona within his poems, this Companion tries to establish what should survive of his massive output. By seeing his early work as self exploration through metaphor and sound, as well as through varieties of love and direct experience, the Companion outlines a unity behind all the work, based on voice and a public self. Neruda's debt to reading and books is studied in depth and the change in poetics re-examined by concentrating on the early work up to Residencia en la tierra I and II and why he wanted to become a poet. Debate about quality and representativity is grounded in his Romantic thinking, sensibility and sincerity. Unlike a Borges or a Paz who accompanied their creative work with analytical essays, Neruda distilled all his experiences into his poems, which remainhis true biography.

Jason Wilson is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies, University College London.

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CHOICE Review

That good poets read other poets attentively as part of their own genesis and apprenticeship is a well-known fact. Wilson (University College London) deftly explores the rich vein of Neruda's many-layered incursions and debts as a means to distinguish the early romantic visionary and the later Marxist populist and thereby both elucidate Neruda's poetic persona and evaluate his massive, and always contentious, output. Love is here the unifying element that explains both the earlier self-explorations in becoming a poet and the later construction of a public self in politics. This critique is a true "companion," because the author is not a member of the Neruda claque: well able to keep up with Neruda's "monstrous" capacity to digest much of great modern literature, Wilson offers judicious opinions, his critical acumen is refreshingly sharp, and his style is both engaging and learned. A vade mecum of tremendous value, this book charts Neruda's life and works, succinctly jibes biography and the poetry, and offers intriguing avenues for further exploration. It has much to offer novice and initiate among both Spanish and English-speaking readers, from poetry buffs through specialists. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers, all levels. K. M. Sibbald McGill University