Ilya Ehrenburg called this poet the happiest person in the whole world. With this loud statement, however, one can even agree. After all, Neruda, during his lifetime, was considered the property of the Latin American continent. In the USSR, he was also loved. The best translators worked on his texts. Do you want to know more about it? Then read this article.
The life of Pablo Neruda is rich in external events. Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basu alto was born - this is the real name of the poet - in the city of Parral, in central Chile. This event took place on July 12, 1904.
The origin of the poet
His father was a railway conductor - he accompanied trains loaded with rubble. The mother died of consumption a month after the birth of her son. The father married a second time, and the family moved to the city of Temuco, which is somewhat south. There the boy grew up. Pablo Neruda retained grateful memories of his stepmother. He wrote that she was a kind and affectionate woman with peasant humor. She constantlyworked hard and took care of everyone.
Education at the Lyceum
At the age of 6, the child was taken to a lyceum. Gradually, Pablo Neruda became interested in reading, and began to compose himself. He published his first poems in newspapers while still a lyceum student. It was then that a pseudonym was born - in an attempt to hide poetic studies from his father, who saw in them the reason for his son's chronic underachievement in mathematics. The name was chosen under the influence of the minute - Pablo liked one of the stories of the Czech classic of the last century, Jan Neruda, while the boy did not understand the stresses and became Neruda. Subsequently, this name was assigned to him by an official act - it was entered in the passport.
First prize, first compilation
After graduating from the lyceum, the young man moved to Santiago and entered the Pedagogical Institute, located at the capital's university. Here he studied English and French. At the same time, Pablo Neruda received the first prize for a poem called "Celebration Song" in a student competition. A 19-year-old Neruda became the author of the collection of poetry "Collection of Sunsets", the cost of issuing which he paid himself, selling miserable property. Even then, his stormy poetic temperament manifests itself - Neruda recalled that he wrote 2, 3, 4 and even 5 poems a day. Basically it was landscape lyrics, student and imitative. But the still fragile poetic voice did not interfere with nurturing a big idea, which became his artistic credo. Pablo Neruda wrote that he wanted to become a poet who would embrace as much as possible in his work. He longed to merge events together,passion, nature and man, and that all this be shown in interconnection.
In the same years, Neruda joined political activities, published articles on social topics in newspapers, took part in the work of trade unions and student societies.
Consul position, travel
After completing a full course at the institute, Neruda is in no hurry to start working life. For a long time he was trying to get some kind of diplomatic post and finally in 1927 he became consul in Rangoon, the capital of Burma. This "work" (he recalls that he had to perform official duties once every three months) could be called a sinecure, if it were well paid, but the usual companion of young poets - poverty - did not pass him by either. Then Neruda was transferred to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), he also visited China, Japan, Argentina, etc. The East enriched the worldview, giving Neruda's work that universality, one might say - cosmicity, which is characteristic of a mature poet.
Residence - Earth
The book, prepared on the basis of accumulated impressions, had a title reflecting these views: "Residence - Earth". She came out in 1935, when Neruda had already received the post of Chilean consul in Madrid. Subsequently, the poet recalled this collection, which brought him fame, that his book was filled with bitterness in the manner of writing and the truth of life. Gabriela Mistral responded with a benevolent article, she saw in the "tense expressiveness of Neruda" the features of a folkvernacular. The method of unexpectedly bold, arbitrary associativity used in this book Neruda retained in the future.
Political preferences and their consequences
With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Neruda gets involved in the political struggle on the side of the Republicans, writes the poetry collection "Spain in the Heart". The Chilean government regarded this behavior as incompatible with a diplomatic post and transferred him to the post of consul in Paris. By that time, the time of unsettledness was over, and the already famous poet bought in Chile, 150 kilometers from the capital, a rich villa "Isla Negro" (Black Island).
Neruda becomes a communist
His political sympathies are gradually transformed - in 1945 he joins the Communist Party of Chile, and since 1959 he has been a member of its Central Committee. For Hispanics, such sentiments are common. They see the reasons for the political and economic backwardness of their countries in an unfair social structure, and, accordingly, they seek solutions to pressing issues only on the paths of social change. For Neruda, individualism is also unacceptable. At the Nobel Day, he said that he had chosen a difficult path, in which he shared responsibility with people, and to worship the individual as the center of the universe, he prefers modest service to the numerous army, which at times can err, but moves forward tirelessly.
At the same time, rejecting individualism, he is attracted to the idea of a hero. In his declining years, Neruda recalled that the dark sides of the time of the cult of personality did not oust the image of Stalin from his memory,a strict person to himself, a "titanic defender" of the revolution in Russia. Neruda turned away from the circumstances that accompanied this "titanic defense", as from particulars that did not change the essence of the matter. So he remained until the end.
Working as a senator, fleeing to Argentina
One of the brightest episodes in the biography of Neruda is associated with the post-war period. In the election campaign of 1947, he supported the candidacy of Gonzalez Videla, who did not skimp on promises. He became president of Chile, and Neruda was elected senator. However, in the worst Latin American tradition, Videla, having come to power, began mass persecution of former supporters, including communists. In response, Neruda made a sharp speech in the Senate, in which, not avoiding theatricality, he said "I accuse!" As once Zola. A month later, a warrant for his arrest appeared. I had to go underground, and then, disguised as a cattle driver, escape through the mountains to Argentina. Life in exile was filled with trips to different countries, participation in World Peace Congresses, etc.
Last years of life
In 1969, Neruda's candidacy is put forward in the presidential elections in Chile, but he withdraws in favor of Salvador Allende. With the victory of the latter, Neruda becomes Chile's ambassador to France, where he learns about the award of the Nobel Prize to him. But a serious illness forces the poet to return to his homeland. He died in a capital clinic 12 days after the bloody government coup (September 23, 1973d.).
Exhumation
Interestingly, almost 40 years after his death, the body of the poet was exhumed. Her goal was to find out the true reasons that led to the death of the poet. The fact is that the Nobel laureate died under very mysterious circumstances. He died 12 days after the military junta took over Chile. The death certificate stated that the cause was prostate cancer. But friends testified that a few hours before his death, Neruda talked, moved independently, and was cheerful. His death came after an injection given to him in the hospital. A 2011 analysis confirmed the medical report.
Analysis of Neruda's creativity
In the post-war years, Neruda still wrote a lot. In total, he created 40 independent books that do not repeat each other in anything. His poetry has been translated into many languages (it was translated into Italian by Salvatore Quasimodo), it won worldwide recognition, but he was constantly accompanied by a reputation as a poet, perhaps a genius, but too "excessive", chaotic, disorderly. Neruda could seem either too complex, or almost primitive, too prone to rhetoric and verbosity, in short, a poet who, with his undeniable merits, does not meet the generally accepted requirements of taste in literature. This is how Pablo Neruda seemed to many critics.
Reviews about him, however, are not so unambiguous. criticsit is stipulated that the above interpretation of Neruda's work is partly due to translations: the reconstruction of his works in a foreign language, where other poetic forms dominate, is a task of exceptional complexity. However, even in the Spanish-speaking world, these lyrics often evoked a mixture of irritation and admiration. Juan Ramon Jimenez, even before the war, called Neruda nothing more than a "great bad poet." Subsequently, he softened the sentence, saying that Spanish-American poetry unbridledly expresses itself in his face, and she absorbed the cycle of nature, as well as the metamorphoses of death and life inherent in the very reality of this continent.
Modern Latin America is called "the continent where all ages meet". They are also found in the controversial, unbridled and impulsive poetry of Pablo Neruda, which, as literary critics note, strives for epic inclusiveness and suffers from earthiness, plunges into the depths of mythological thinking and is saturated with the everyday life of modernity.
Translations of Pablo Neruda's works into Russian
It is also worth noting that all translations of this poet's poems into Russian are very inaccurate, despite the fact that the best translators worked on them. The fact is that Neruda used a difficult style of writing - without rhyme, wavy long lines, very difficult to perform. Experts smoothed the verses to the best of their ability, turning them into rhymed traditional ones. In this field, Margarita Aguilera and Ilya Ehrenburg especially distinguished themselves. Pablo himself considered Pavel Glushko the best translator of his works. However, he could be wrong. After all, Neruda did not speak Russian.
Russia is showing increasing interest in the work of this poet. This is evidenced by the fact that educational and cultural institutions are named after him. Moscow sets an example for other regions.
Lyceum 1568 named after Pablo Neruda
In the capital, on January 17, 2006, a lyceum named after this poet was opened. Lyceum 1568 Pablo Neruda is a state educational institution that provides in-depth training of students in the disciplines of technical and natural science profiles. This educational institution currently occupies the 16th place in the ranking of schools in the capital. Lyceum 1568 named after Pablo Neruda received the Grant of the Mayor of Moscow for the success of its pupils (in 2011-12 and 2012-13). Most recently, in 2013, this educational institution was reorganized - it was merged with schools No. 233, No. 307, No. 1237, as well as with kindergartens No. 1606, No. 1880, No. 1255, No. 2145, No. 1928.
Today GBOU Lyceum 1568 named after Pablo Neruda is aimed at those who want to seriously engage in the natural sciences (chemistry, physics), mathematics and engineering disciplines (computer science, reading). These are the profile items. They can be studied in depth by enrolling in the Pablo Neruda Lyceum. In profile lessons, for more effective learning, the class is divided into two or three groups. Each of them consists of 10-15 people. Pupils attending the lyceum 1568 named. Pablo Neruda, sitting at their desks on these subjectsone at a time and therefore better assimilate the material presented. In addition, electives and free consultations are organized to clarify complex issues and study disciplines in more depth. Those who want to enter the Pablo Neruda Lyceum need to pass the entrance exams, as well as pass an interview. Currently, education is conducted from 5th to 11th grade. Preparatory classes are open for those who want to enter the lyceum or get more complete and serious knowledge. The school of Pablo Neruda generously shares them with interested children.
However, not only the lyceum is named after this great poet in the capital. There is also the Pablo Neruda Library (No. 62). It is located at st. Yaroslavskaya, 13, building 1 (metro station VDNKh). Another library named after him is No. 187, located at 180 Mira Avenue. All this suggests that in our country there is great interest in his personality and work.
