Pablo Neruda (1904-73) was the greatest Latin American poet of the 20th century. A prolific
inspirational poet he wrote many different kinds of poems covering a wide range of themes
notably love death grief and despair. His poetry celebrates the dramatic Chilean landscape
and rages against the exploitation of his people for whom he became a national hero. He was
awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971 for 'a poetry that with the action of an
elemental force brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams'. This book presents fifty of his
most essential poems in dynamic new translations the result of an unprecedented collaboration
between a team of poets translators and leading Neruda scholars who came together to revisit
or completely retranslate the poems. Also including some previously untranslated works this
bilingual edition sets the standard for a general high-quality introduction to Neruda's
complete oeuvre. The Essential Neruda includes translations by Mark Eisner John Felstiner
Forrest Gander Robert Hass Jack Hirschman Stephen Kessler Stephen Mitchell and Alastair
Reid with an introduction by Mark Eisner
