‘‘cherries’’ instead of ‘‘cherry trees’’? How does a
‘‘bodega’’ become a ‘‘geyser’’ and can ‘‘lodo y luz
machacados’’ turn into ‘‘mud and light in maquer-
ade’’? ‘‘Amor’’ is simply translated ‘‘love’’ in its
numerous appearances, but why not vary it once
in a while: ‘‘my love,’’ ‘‘lover,’’ ‘‘dearest,’’
‘‘sweetheart’’? Granted, the translator must have
some liberty to create a unity of imagery, but
when totally different perspectives or meanings
are produced by using the terms selected, perhaps
the translator should work a little harder at that
imagery.
The last item to be mentioned in this review
is one of the most difficult aspects of literary
translation, and it concerns sustaining the tone
of a work and not producing gaps in its linguistic
intensity or lapsing into simple translation traps.
The translator needs to know the subject, the
poet’s work and personality, his motivation and
perspectives, and the translator should try not to
betray the poet’s principles. At times in the work
under consideration, the nostalgic melancholy of
Neruda’s droning voice, the cumulative intensity
of his repetitions, and his stacking of phrase upon
phrase disappears in translation. This problem
might be termed ‘‘syntactical undertranslation’’
and several functions appear to be involved. In
too many instances, the thought sequences are
divided into short sentences instead of following
the poet’s use of commas and conjunctions in a
cumulative series. The surge of vitality and the
emotional flow seems stifled by these changes.
Could it be that Neruda’s verse, particularly
these tender but human expressions of love and
pain for his ‘‘amada amante,’’ represent such
sacred ground that any attempt to reproduce
them in a foreign or strange tongue would precip-
itate a holy war of words? Perhaps all we can hope
for is an approximation. Undoubtedly, Stephen
Tapscott’s efforts will not go unrewarded. His
work is worthy of continued study, and he has
accomplished his goal of ‘‘making some of the
pleasure of Neruda’s work available to English-
speaking North Americans’’ (viii).
Source:L. Howard Quackenbush, ‘‘Review of100 Love
Sonnets(Cien sonetos de amor) by Pablo Neruda,’’ in
Hispania, Vol. 70, No. 3, September 1987, pp. 513–15.
Sources
Agosin, Marjorie,Pablo Neruda, translated by Lorraine
Roses, Twayne’s World Author Series, No. 769, Twayne,
1986, pp. 30, 32.
Alegria, Fernando, ‘‘Neruda: Reminiscences and Critical
Reflections,’’ translated by Deborah S. Bundy, inModern
Poetry Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1, Spring 1974, pp. 41–51.
Bellini, Guiseppi, ‘‘Pablo Neruda: Interpreter of Our Cen-
tury,’’ translated by Janice A. Jaffe, inPablo Neruda and
the U.S. Culture Industry,editedbyTeresaLongo,Rout-
ledge, 2002, p. 8.
Cohen, Jonathan, ‘‘The Early History of Neruda in Eng-
lish (1925–1937),’’ inRomance Notes, Vol. 22, No. 3,
Spring 1982, pp. 272–76.
———, ‘‘Neruda in English: Establishing his Residency
in U.S. Poetry,’’ inMulticultural Review, Vol. 13, No. 4,
Winter 2004, p. 27.
Dura ́n, Manuel, and Margery Safir,Earth Tones: The Poetry
of Pablo Neruda, Indiana University Press, 1981, p. 31.
Felstiner, John, ‘‘Nobel Prize at Isla Negra,’’ inNew
Republic, December 25, 1971, p. 29.
Longo, Teresa, ‘‘Introduction: Poetry Like Wonder
Bread,’’ inPablo Neruda and the U.S. Culture Industry,
edited by Teresa Longo, Routledge, 2002, p. xvii.
Neruda, Pablo,Memoirs, translated by Hardie St. Mar-
tin, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976, pp. 137, 170, 274.
———, One Hundred Love Sonnets, translated by
Stephen Tapscott, University of Texas Press, 1986.
———, ‘‘Sonnet LXXXIX,’’ inOne Hundred Love Son-
nets, translated by Stephen Tapscott, University of Texas
Press, 1986, p. 189.
Perriam, Christopher, ‘‘Metaphorical Machismo: Neru-
da’s Love Poetry,’’ inForum for Modern Language Stud-
ies, Vol. 24, January 1988, pp. 58–77.
Urrutia, Matilde,My Life with Pablo Neruda, translated
by Alexandria Giardino, Stanford University Press,
2004, pp. 156, 173.
Willis, Bruce Dean, ‘‘Loving Neruda,’’ inPablo Neruda
and the U.S. Culture Industry, edited by Teresa Longo,
Routledge, 2002, p. 93.
Wood, Michael, ‘‘The Poetry of Neruda,’’ in theNew York
Review of Books, Vol. 21, No. 15, October 3, 1974, pp. 8, 10, 12.Further Reading
Bloom, Harold, ed.,Pablo Neruda: Modern Critical
Views, Chelsea House, 1989.
Nineteen essays on Neruda widely cited by
other authors give a critical overview of Neru-
da’s major works by the best critics.
Collier, Simon, and William F. Sater,A History of Chile,
1808–2002, 2nd ed., Cambridge Latin American Studies,
Cambridge University Press, 2004.
This history traces the country’s political, eco-
nomic, and social evolution from an aristocracy
to a democracy, including the periods of turmoil
Neruda lived through.Sonnet LXXXIX