Portrait on the Rock (Neruda's Love·Poetry·Revolution)

Author: Zhao Zhenjiang, compiled by Teng Wei
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Neruda himself believed that love and duty were his two wings. This book elaborates on his love and revolutionary stories through poetry, with abundant background information not only providing new perspectives for understanding the works themselves but also adding a vibrant touch to the solitary poetry. At the same time, the selected poems present the essence of Neruda's poetry in a simple and elegant manner. Pablo Neruda, a complex figure, an exceptionally talented poet who gained fame at a young age, loved nature as much as women, fine wine, and gourmet food, whose love poems blended deep affection and sensuality. He was a great Chilean poet, a communist, an outspoken politician who valued social justice as much as poetic art, an ambassador, and a presidential candidate. A Nobel Prize winner in Literature in 1971, yet he was repeatedly unpopular in his homeland, Chile. This year marks the centenary of the birth of the Nobel Prize-winning poet Neruda. The purpose of this book is to comprehensively introduce Neruda's (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1971) poetic art and life journey, allowing more Chinese readers to understand this poet who enjoyed worldwide acclaim in the 1950s and 1970s. The book adopts a critical biography format, primarily divided into two sections: Love and Revolution, with an additional concluding section. It totals 170,000 words, richly illustrated, with detailed information, professional translation, and expert commentary, exquisitely produced.
Love Section:
Introduces Neruda's emotional experiences, brief biographies of his three wives, accompanied by images and recollections from those involved or related to him. It also covers his interactions with artists and poets around the world, along with anecdotes and.
Poetry Selection Section:
Selects representative works from this period, focusing on Neruda's early (wandering and melancholy) during his travels, where he wrote numerous obscure and modernist-style pure poems. It analyzes the unique charm and artistic characteristics of his love poetry. Each selected poem is followed by background information, background images, and brief commentary.
Revolution Section:
Structured similarly to the Love section. It primarily introduces Neruda's turn to the left and his revolutionary experiences after joining the Communist Party of Chile. It includes his presidential campaign, his interactions with figures like Allende, Che Guevara, and Stalin, his visit to China, his exile, and his death. The Poetry Selection Section features his most famous and influential political lyrical poems.
Concluding Section:
Summarizes his life and poetry, introducing the immense reputation he gained as a poet, such as the Nobel Prize citation and his acceptance speech.
For today's (disaffected youth), this book can evoke nostalgia for the "Red Sixties." When Che Guevara died, he carried with him an arithmetic textbook and two copies of Neruda's poetry. For the (middle-class intellectuals), they will be moved by Neruda's passionate love poems. For literature enthusiasts, they will gain a clear understanding of Neruda from this book.