Canto General / Edition 1

by Pablo Neruda

Overview

Before the wig and the dress coat there were rivers, arterial rivers: there were cordilleras, jagged waves where the condor and the snow seemed immutable: there was dampness and dense growth, the thunder as yet unnamed, the planetary pampas.

Man was dust, earthen vase, an eyelid of tremulous loam, the shape of clay - he was Carib jug, Chibcha stone, imperial cup or Araucanian silica. Tender and bloody was he, but on the grip of his weapon of moist flint, the initials of the earth were written. - from A Lamp on Earth

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788437609300
Publisher:	Ediciones Cátedra
Publication date:	01/28/1990
Series:	Letras Hispanicas , #318
Edition description:	Spanish-language Edition
Pages:	655
Product dimensions:	4.40(w) x 7.18(h) x 1.29(d)
Language:	Spanish

About the Author

Jack Scmitt is Professor Emeritus of Spanish and Portuguese at California State University, Long Beach. Roberto González Echevarría is Sterling Professor of Hispanic and Comparative Literatures at Yale University and a member of the American Academy of Arts of Sciences.

Date of Birth:

July 12, 1904

Date of Death:

September 23, 1973

Place of Birth:

Parral, Chile

Place of Death:

Santiago, Chile

Education:

University of Chile, Santiago

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction by
Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria

I A LAMP ON EARTH

II THE HEIGHTS OF MACCHU PICCHU

III THE CONQUISTADORS

IV THE LIBERATORS

VI AMERICA, I DO NOT INVOKE YOUR NAME IN VAIN

VIII THE EARTH'S NAME IS JUAN

IX LET THE WOODCUTTER AWAKEN

X THE FUGITIVE

XI THE FLOWERS OF PUNITAQUI

XII THE RIVERS OF SONG

XIII NEW YEAR'S CHORALE FOR THE COUNTRY IN DARKNESS

XIV THE GREAT OCEAN

XV I AM

Notes

Editorial Reviews

Comprising 15 sections and over 300 separate poems, this epic traces the history of Spanish America from the pre-Colombian innocence to present corruption. Despite the heavy-handed, overt, and somewhat dated Communist propaganda, the permanent value of this masterpiece lies in the personal prophetic vision, grandiose scheme, and heterogeneity of verse forms. Neruda coalesces contrasting styles, from the sublime, almost mystical lyricism of self-exploration in ``The Heights of Macchu Picchu'' to the prosaic, oratorical bombast of ``The Sand Betrayed.'' Although excerpts have been previously translated and regularly anthologized, this landmark edition, accurate and literal, marks the first time this monumental work appears in English in its entirety. Recommended.-- Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC, Dublin, Ohio

Library Journal

The masterpiece of the greatest poet of the 20th century, and thus one of the central productions of modern poetry, the 15-part Canto, containing some 300 poems, is a visionary epic of Latin America and its people, akin to nothing more than Whitman's Leaves of grass. Although some parts of the Canto, including The Heights of Macchu Picchu, have been translated, this is the first English- language appearance of the Canto on its entirety, and the translation, by Jack Schmitt, is a remarkable accomplishment in its own right. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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