(in progress....Version 2.0)
"In these memoirs or recollections there are gaps here and there, and sometimes they are also forgetful, because life is like that..."
When I was young this is what I read in a cover page of a book. I didn't read many English books then (other than the text books), but this line was haunting me for years. Later I used it in my email signature. I wondered how come this poet knew exactly what I felt and couldn't express...
I am going to write some favorite lines from the book, later express my views along those lines: How did Neruda inspire me for long time? Once I met another poet from his country and she was very surprised that I read Neruda and remember some of his quotes. I probably couldn't explain to her the reasons well enough, I am not sure if I can do it now...But this is the only way I know I can try...Neruda writes:
Poetry is an occupation
When I wrote my first lonely books, it never entered my mind that, with the passing years, I would find myself in squares, streets, factories, lecture halls, theatres, and gardens, reading my poems.
Here I liked the gutsy usage of the word lonely, normally I don't see such usage. His books were lonely because there weren't many readers then, he just started writing, he was the only reader of those books (or writings)..I liked it. Writing of this kind eliminates the differentiation between poetry and prose!
Originality
I don't believe in originality. It is just one more fetish made up in our time, which is speeding dizzily to its collapse.
I believe in personality reached through any language, any form, any creative means used by the artist.
"Poetry is an occupation" is the most interesting chapter in his memoirs. His comment on originality is so unique and goes against my conventional thinking. This is how he attracted me with very original ideas of his own :-)
Criticism and Self-criticism
Some believe I am a surrealist poet, for others I am a realist, and still others do not believe I am a poet. They are partly correct and partly incorrect....
As for the realism, I must say, in my own interest, that I detest realism in poetry. Moreover, poetry does not have to be surrealist or sub-realist, though it may be anti-realist. And it is anti-realist with all reason, with all unreason; that is , with all poetry.
I had several arguments with my friends about realism in poetry, this is probably the one most common point to start argument among poetry lovers. I didn't read Neruda then, but somehow had same opinion as this, though in a softer tune. Realism is not necessarily a part of poetry, even the concern for society, poverty, making life better for others, ...absolultely nothing!
But I must admit that I was very surprised to hear this comment from Neruda (about realism)...now I don't!
Lost in the city
Shyness
Shyness is a kink in the soul, a special category, a dimension that opens out into solitude. Moreover, it is an inherent suffering, as if we had two epidermises and the one underneath rebelled and shrank back from life. Of the things that make up a man, this quality, this damaging thing, is a part of the alloy that lays the foundation, in the long run, for the perpetuity of the self.
This is the first time I read about male shyness with such bold statements.We normally read lots about female shyness, this clarity of thoughts in male shyness is not explained well so far. Neruda was a very shy person from his childhood. His feeling about girls, in his own language: "And since I could find no one to give me a push, I walked along the fascinating edge, without even a side glance, much less a smile". That's the experience of a complete shy person!
