Correspondencia entre Pablo Neruda y Jorge Edwards. Cartas que romperemos de inmediato y recordaremos siempre. (Correspondence Between Pablo Neruda and Jorge Edwards: Letters We’ll Immediately Tear Up and Always Remember)

Kathleen March, Univ. of Maine, Orono -- Críticas, 11/1/2008

Quezada Vergara, Abraham, ed.
Chile/U.S.: Alfaguara: Santillana. 2007. 165p. bibliog. index. ISBN 956-239-555-7. $17.99. pap. MEMOIR

This book is essentially intended for specialists in Latin American and particularly Chilean literature. Jorge Edwards and Pablo Neruda are familiar names in Latin American literary circles, one (Edwards) a generation younger than the other. The correspondence itself is of interest for what it reveals of their friendship, but the content remains fairly mundane, with greetings, personal references, and some references to surroundings or minor events at the time. The poet does show some expected quirks, such as Neruda’s insistence on having his friend Edwards get him British military drums. Edwards is especially helpful in providing context for this correspondence, which includes 46 letters dating from 1962 to 1973 (the year of Neruda’s death); his comments reveal at least as much as the letters themselves about the relationship the two men enjoyed. Editor Quezada Vergara’s introduction also provides an interpretation of Neruda’s political position, which turns out to be less progressive than his reputation might have indicated, as well as historical information on the times in which he lived. In some ways, it is this study that is of greatest value. An index of persons mentioned and the accompanying footnotes to the correspondence are welcome additions. There is also a brief bibliography and a chronology that includes events in the writers’ lives between 1957 and 1973. Given the importance of these two writers, this book should prove to be a worthwhile contribution to the study of their lives and works.

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