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The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems
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Manufacturer: City Lights Publishers
Author: Pablo Neruda
Publisher: City Lights Publishers
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $11.53
You Save: $ 5.42 ( 32% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: City Lights Publishers
Author: Pablo Neruda
Publisher: City Lights Publishers
Average Customer Rating:
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The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 861.64
EAN: 9780872864283
ISBN: 0872864286
Label: City Lights Publishers
Manufacturer: City Lights Publishers
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 200
Publication Date: 2004-04-01
Publisher: City Lights Publishers
Studio: City Lights Publishers
Dewey Decimal Number: 861.64
EAN: 9780872864283
ISBN: 0872864286
Label: City Lights Publishers
Manufacturer: City Lights Publishers
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 200
Publication Date: 2004-04-01
Publisher: City Lights Publishers
Studio: City Lights Publishers
Editorial Review of The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems
This collection of Neruda's most essential poems will prove indispensable. Selected by a team of poets and prominent Neruda scholars in both Chile and the U.S., this is a definitive selection that draws from the entire breadth and width of Neruda's various styles and themes. An impressive group of translators that includes Alistair Reid, Stephen Mitchell, Robert Hass, Stephen Kessler and Jack Hirschman, have come together to revisit or completely retranslate the poems; and a handful of previously untranslated works are included as well. This selection sets the standard for a general, high--quality introduction to Neruda's complete oeuvre.
Pablo Neruda was born in Chile in 1904. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.
Customer Reviews of The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: More than just a great intro-awesome even if you already have some Pablo
Review: I got The Essential Neruda when it came out in 2004. I already loved Neruda, and have the old Selected Poems edition (which unfortunately ends at 1968, and some of the translations are just plain flat) plus the 20 Love Poems, Residence on Earth, Canto General, and some of the odes. But the translators here (former US Poet Laureate Robert Hass just won the Pulitzer!) just bring Neruda so alive, and the selection of poems just captures his whole range of 'the many Pablos'. So when I came here today to buy one as a gift, I'm pleased by the reviews of how great an introduction to Neruda it is, but I want to stress how great it is as a book to keep going back to again and again. Actually, to quote the great writer Ariel Dorfman on the back cover of the book:
"What beter way to celebrate the hundred years of Neruda's glorious residence on our earth than this selection of crucial works - in both languages! A splendid way to being a love affair with out Pablo or, having already succumbed to his infinite charms, revisit him passionately again and again and yet again."
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A wonderful place to start with Neruda
Review: Gorgeous work. Neruda is my all time favorite. A beautiful book to give as a gift or to get some started with Neruda.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: what's the big deal?
Review: This would be my first introduction to Pablo Neruda, and I must say I'm a bit disappointed. Not that Neruda isn't a great poet, the Nobel Prize and critical acclaim prove the contrary, but perhaps the translation could use some more work.
I picked this copy up noticing the name of Robert Hass', the translator and author of the Essential Haiku, on which he did a great job. Unfortunately, Eisner is the editor of the majority of the poems. The analogy to Eisner's translation would be like what Zondervan did to the bible in their NIV. It's not a bad translation, but it's moderned up a bit. I would have appreciated a more King James-like translation of Neruda's poems as I could infer a lot of missed nuances that appear to be in the original Spanish on the opposite page. A lot of the translations lack the depth and texture of what a great poet should have, and sometimes it feels like I'm reading a different poet altogether.
For instance, a line "Hermano, hermano!" is translated as "Hermano, hermano!" in the English, though it could have plainly been have translated as "Brother, brother!" considering the second "hermano" is not capitalized. Perhaps this was Neruda's original intent, but there is no way to tell as there are no footnotes.
Poetry is about texture, a poet's voice, and brilliance in how the artist uses his words to paint; this translation doesn't do enough to convey the voice of Neruda, but merely makes it accessible to new readers of not only Neruda, but also poetry.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A New Translation
Review: "I became saturated with his poetry and began to translate his poems. Although there were many beautiful existing translations, many others did not flow as I felt they should and I often had interpretive differences with them." ~ Mark Eisner, translator
"The Essential Neruda Selected Poems" is the best translation I've read so far. The words are alive with beauty in a way that feels authentic to the heart. You can immerse yourself in the poems and emerge with a sense of wonder.
"Leaning into the evenings I throw my sad nets
to your ocean eyes."
Mark Eisner has captured the soul of Pablo Neruda's art and perhaps even enhanced the creative majesty of each poem. At times the poems can make you feel a little breathless as if you have happened upon a new discovery or secret revelation.
"And the air came in with orange-blossom fingers
over all those asleep:
a thousand years of air, months, weeks of air,
of blue wind, of iron cordillera,
that were like soft hurricanes of footsteps
polishing the lonely boundary of the stone."
The imagery is at times so vivid, as if you were transported to each scene. Pictures flash across your mind and you can almost catch the scent of the ocean or see the colors vivid and pure. Angels and death dance through the poems with equal ease and at times the words are heavenly or earthy and dark.
"Full woman, carnal apple, hot moon,
thick smell of seaweed, crushed mud and light,
what obscure clarity opens between your columns?
What ancient night does man touch with his senses?"
If you are new to the poems of Pablo Neruda then this would be an excellent place to start. The poems present many facets of the poet unlike other books that simply reveal his romantic nature. While I seem to enjoy his love poems best, I can say that this experience gives a more wide-ranging portrait of Pablo Neruda.
~The Rebecca Review
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The Essential Neruda
Review: Neruda has given us some of the most incredibly poignant poetry of our time. Do yourself a favor; buy this collection.
Love on your mind? Read TWENTY LOVE POEMS: 15 --- "I like it when you're quiet."
"I like it when you're quiet. It's as if you weren't here now, and you heard me from a distance, and my voice couldn't reach you.
It's as if your eyes had flown away from you, as if your mouth were closed because I leaned to kiss you."
The title of the collection says it all "The Essential Neruda."
Review Summary: More than just a great intro-awesome even if you already have some Pablo
Review: I got The Essential Neruda when it came out in 2004. I already loved Neruda, and have the old Selected Poems edition (which unfortunately ends at 1968, and some of the translations are just plain flat) plus the 20 Love Poems, Residence on Earth, Canto General, and some of the odes. But the translators here (former US Poet Laureate Robert Hass just won the Pulitzer!) just bring Neruda so alive, and the selection of poems just captures his whole range of 'the many Pablos'. So when I came here today to buy one as a gift, I'm pleased by the reviews of how great an introduction to Neruda it is, but I want to stress how great it is as a book to keep going back to again and again. Actually, to quote the great writer Ariel Dorfman on the back cover of the book:
"What beter way to celebrate the hundred years of Neruda's glorious residence on our earth than this selection of crucial works - in both languages! A splendid way to being a love affair with out Pablo or, having already succumbed to his infinite charms, revisit him passionately again and again and yet again."
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A wonderful place to start with Neruda
Review: Gorgeous work. Neruda is my all time favorite. A beautiful book to give as a gift or to get some started with Neruda.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: what's the big deal?
Review: This would be my first introduction to Pablo Neruda, and I must say I'm a bit disappointed. Not that Neruda isn't a great poet, the Nobel Prize and critical acclaim prove the contrary, but perhaps the translation could use some more work.
I picked this copy up noticing the name of Robert Hass', the translator and author of the Essential Haiku, on which he did a great job. Unfortunately, Eisner is the editor of the majority of the poems. The analogy to Eisner's translation would be like what Zondervan did to the bible in their NIV. It's not a bad translation, but it's moderned up a bit. I would have appreciated a more King James-like translation of Neruda's poems as I could infer a lot of missed nuances that appear to be in the original Spanish on the opposite page. A lot of the translations lack the depth and texture of what a great poet should have, and sometimes it feels like I'm reading a different poet altogether.
For instance, a line "Hermano, hermano!" is translated as "Hermano, hermano!" in the English, though it could have plainly been have translated as "Brother, brother!" considering the second "hermano" is not capitalized. Perhaps this was Neruda's original intent, but there is no way to tell as there are no footnotes.
Poetry is about texture, a poet's voice, and brilliance in how the artist uses his words to paint; this translation doesn't do enough to convey the voice of Neruda, but merely makes it accessible to new readers of not only Neruda, but also poetry.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A New Translation
Review: "I became saturated with his poetry and began to translate his poems. Although there were many beautiful existing translations, many others did not flow as I felt they should and I often had interpretive differences with them." ~ Mark Eisner, translator
"The Essential Neruda Selected Poems" is the best translation I've read so far. The words are alive with beauty in a way that feels authentic to the heart. You can immerse yourself in the poems and emerge with a sense of wonder.
"Leaning into the evenings I throw my sad nets
to your ocean eyes."
Mark Eisner has captured the soul of Pablo Neruda's art and perhaps even enhanced the creative majesty of each poem. At times the poems can make you feel a little breathless as if you have happened upon a new discovery or secret revelation.
"And the air came in with orange-blossom fingers
over all those asleep:
a thousand years of air, months, weeks of air,
of blue wind, of iron cordillera,
that were like soft hurricanes of footsteps
polishing the lonely boundary of the stone."
The imagery is at times so vivid, as if you were transported to each scene. Pictures flash across your mind and you can almost catch the scent of the ocean or see the colors vivid and pure. Angels and death dance through the poems with equal ease and at times the words are heavenly or earthy and dark.
"Full woman, carnal apple, hot moon,
thick smell of seaweed, crushed mud and light,
what obscure clarity opens between your columns?
What ancient night does man touch with his senses?"
If you are new to the poems of Pablo Neruda then this would be an excellent place to start. The poems present many facets of the poet unlike other books that simply reveal his romantic nature. While I seem to enjoy his love poems best, I can say that this experience gives a more wide-ranging portrait of Pablo Neruda.
~The Rebecca Review
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The Essential Neruda
Review: Neruda has given us some of the most incredibly poignant poetry of our time. Do yourself a favor; buy this collection.
Love on your mind? Read TWENTY LOVE POEMS: 15 --- "I like it when you're quiet."
"I like it when you're quiet. It's as if you weren't here now, and you heard me from a distance, and my voice couldn't reach you.
It's as if your eyes had flown away from you, as if your mouth were closed because I leaned to kiss you."
The title of the collection says it all "The Essential Neruda."