Pablo Neruda: Absence and Presence

I saw it first in my college library, subsequently I bought it. Neruda's zest for life is enviable. The book makes me want to know more and more about him and his writings. It has been a year now, and I go back time to time, to read something or the other from the book, again and again. The photographs of Neruda's homes set the context for the poetry contained side by side. Translation is comforting for me. I understand very little about literature but poetry is now my one of the serious love interest thanks to his poem titled 'Poetry': "It was the age when it arrived in search of me.......I was there without a face and it touched me". Bravo! Why ? This is what I found his book, and a new word "wakefulness" :)) " It is very appropriate, at certain times of the day or night, to look deeply into objects at rest: wheels which have traversed vast dusty spaces, bearing great cargoes of vegetables or minerals, sacks from the coal yards, barrels, baskets, the handles and grips of the carpenter tools. They exude the touch of man and the earth as a lesson to the tormented poet. Worn surfaces, the mark hands have left on things, the aura, sometimes tragic and always wistful, of these objects, lend to reality a fascination not to be taken lightly. The flawed confusion of human beings shows in them, the proliferation, materials used and discarded, the prints of feet and fingers, the permanent mark of humanity on the inside and outside of all objects. That is the kind of poetry we should be after, poetry worn away as if by acid by the labor of hands, impregnated with sweat and smoke, smelling of lilies and of urine, splashed by the variety of what we do, legally or illegally. A poetry as impure as old clothes, as a body, with its food stains and its shame; with wrinkles, observations, dreams, wakefulness, prophecies, declarations of love and hate, stupidities, shocks, idylls, political beliefs, negations, doubts affirmations, taxes."

Luis Poirot is one of my favorites photographers. This book about Pablo Neruda is great, not only for the quality of the beatiful images, but also for the investigation with the people who knew Neruda well. Absolutamente recomendable!!!!

Neruda is a poetry god. And interest in the Chilean writer's work is growing again thanks to Il Postino (The Postman), the Oscar-nominated film in which he's a character. This coffee table compendium presents some of his most exquisite verse coupled with warm, full-page photographs of, among others, his ocean front home, Ilsa Negra, with its nautical knick-knacks. The man's presence pervades the volume and includes personal accounts from those who knew him. Translator Alastair Reid has chosen works that suit the pictures and work well as whole. It's a delightful introduction to one of the centuries greatest wordsmiths.

This collection sets a wonderful selection of Neruda's poetry and anecdotes into a the photographic setting of his life. It is a beautiful book.

THOUGH I LOOK FOR NEW BOOKS ON OR BY PABLO NERUDA IN EVERY BOOKSTORE IN USA OR UK, AND INDIA, I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS BOOK ANYWHERE. CURIOUSLY, I FOUND IT IN A BOOKSTORE IN TORONTO! I COULD HARDLY BELIEVE MY EYES AND THOUGH EXPENSIVE FOR A VISITOR FROM INDIA SPENDING IN $ WITH Rs. 36 EQUAL TO A $, IT WAS SUCH A FEAST THAT EVERY Rs. WAS WORTH IT. THOUGH POIROT'S NAME WAS UNLNOWN TO ME, ALASTAIR REID IS FAMOUS FOR HIS TRANSLATIONS OF NERUDA. THE COMBINATION OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND POEMS IS REALLY EXQUISITE AND MARKS NERUDA'S PRESENCE WITH AUTHENTISITY AND MYSTIC. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF NERUDA'S INTERESTS IN ALL THOSE CRAFTS JAMMING HIS HOUSE? AND YET, WHO WOULD BE SURPRISED TO SEE THAT? I CANNOT IMAGINE THAT HIS HOUSE WOULD BE PLAIN AND SIMPLE. IT HAD TO BE VIBRANT AND ALIVE WITH MADONA, HORSE, BOOKS, WITH BIG AND SMALL HEADS, SHIPS IN BOTTLES, AND A THOUSAND MORE THINGS. AND OF COURSE WITH NERUDA HIMSELF AND HIS LONG TIME, IMMORTALISED LOVE MATILDE URRUTIA AND ALL THOSE FAMOUS AND NON-FAMOUS FRIENDS, WHOSE PHOTOS ENRICH THIS BOOK. IF EVER ONE NEEDS TO SPEND AN EVENING AND MORE, AND A FEW BUCKS, IN ANY ENCHANTING COMPANY, THEN ONE WILL HARDLY FIND A BETTER SUBJECT TO SPEND ON THAN "PABLO NERUDA ABSENCE AND PRESENCE". IT IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR ALL NERUDA LOVERS AND FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN POETRY, PHOTOGRAPHY, CHILE, GOOD LIFE, INTERIOR AND CRAFTS, AND IN FACT IN LOVE ITSELF! PRAKASH TRIVEDI.