Extravagaria : A Bilingual Edition
Extravagaria marks an important stage in Neruda's progress as a poet. The book was written just after he had returned to Chile after many wanderings and moved to his beloved Isla Negra on the Pacific coast. These sixty-eight poems thus denote a resting point, a rediscovery of sea and land, and an "autumnal period" (as the poet himself called it). In this book, Neruda developed a lyric poetry decidedly more personal than his earlier work.
Pablo touched me as no poet that I have read in the last 25 years. His lines particularly sees the world with wisened eyes, writen in his later days. He embraces his past occationally crushing it with bittersweet energy. At the same time he looks forward to rest and what's next. He never stopped Becoming, as Sarte would say, through the years. "Her" declares the need and joy of loving and working life together with his spouse. "Larnyx" chills with news from the doctor that all of humanity dreads.
The spanish on the facing page lets one glimpse at hidden meanings, reaching back for our Spanish 101 or Elementary Latin, a treat. If you buy one poetry book this year, this should be the one. --Reviewer: A reader from Kingwood (NOT Houston), Texas
One of the most interesting books I have ever read. It taught me that there's poetry in every movement we make and every moment we live.
