The Complete Memoirs

”[A] masterpiece memoir … First published in 1974, the year following his death, and now released with newly discovered material, this expanded version of his memoirs gives color to the tumultuous story of his life … In his memoirs, Neruda shares himself through the language of someone who spent a life thinking in poetry. From chapter to chapter, he grounds the episodes that shaped him in the intimate recollection of unforgettable people, hidden spaces, new flavors, and secret conversations. This is the revelatory self-portrait of a man whose contemporary, Gabriel García Márquez, another legend of Latin literature, once called ‘the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language.’” –Mark Libatique, Avenue

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), one of the most renowned poets of the twentieth century, was born in Parral, Chile. He shared the World Peace Prize with Paul Robeson and Pablo Picasso in 1950, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971. His books include Residence on Earth, Canto General, Extravagaria, and Isla Negra.

Hardie St. Martin translated work by Vincente Aleixandre, Roque Dalton, Enrique Lihn, Nicanor Parra, and Luisa Valenzuela, among others. His anthology of Spanish poetry, Roots and Wings, is still considered a literary landmark. Hardie died September 3, 2007.

Adrian Nathan West is the author of The Aesthetics of Degradation. He is a contributor to the Times Literary Supplement and the Literary Review; his essays, short fiction and translations have also appeared in the New York Review of Books, McSweeney’s, the London Review of Books and other publications.