Canto General (Latin American Literature and Culture, Vol 7) [Paperback]

Pablo Neruda (Author), Jack Schmit (Translator), Roberto González Echevarria (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Latin American Literature and Culture, Vol 7 | Publication Date: July 1, 1993

The Canto General, thought by many of Neruda's most prominent critics to be the poet's masterpiece, is the stunning epic of an entire continent and its people.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Comprising 15 sections and over 300 separate poems, this epic traces the history of Spanish America from the pre-Colombian innocence to present corruption. Despite the heavy-handed, overt, and somewhat dated Communist propaganda, the permanent value of this masterpiece lies in the personal prophetic vision, grandiose scheme, and heterogeneity of verse forms. Neruda coalesces contrasting styles, from the sublime, almost mystical lyricism of self-exploration in "The Heights of Macchu Picchu" to the prosaic, oratorical bombast of "The Sand Betrayed." Although excerpts have been previously translated and regularly anthologized, this landmark edition, accurate and literal, marks the first time this monumental work appears in English in its entirety. Recommended.
- Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC, Dublin, Ohio
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

(interlude: 1) The Colony Covers Our Lands
(interlude: 2) The Haciendas
(interlude: 3) The New Proprietors
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Abraham Jesus Brito (people's Poet)
Advancing In The Lands Of Chili
The Agonies
Alvarado
Amador Cea (from Coronel, Chile, 1949)
America
America's Witches. Estrada. Ubico. Gomez. Machado. Melgarejo
Amore America (1400)
Anaconda Copper Mining Co
Antarctica
Antonio Bernales (fisherman, Colombia)
Araucaria Pine
Artigas
Arturo Carrion (seaman, Iquique)
Atacama
Balmaceda From Chile (1891)
The Battered Birds
The Beggars
Benilda Varela (concepcion, University City, Chile 1949)
Bernardo O'higgins Riquelme (1810)
The Birds Arrive
Births
A Bishop
Bolivia (22 March 1865)
The Bordellos
Botany
Brazil
Brother Bartolome De Las Casas
Brother Pablo
Calero, Banana Worker (costa Rica, 1940)
Castro Alves From Brazil
Catastrophe In Sewell
Celestial Poets
Central America
Central America
Chief Caupolican
The Chief's Training
Children Of The Seacoast
Chile's Seas
Chile's Voices
Cholula
Chronicle Of 1948 (america)
Chucao Tapaculo
The Civil War
Climates
The Combatant Land
Combative Kindness
Commoners From Socorro (1781)
The Corpses In The Plaza (28 January 1946, Santiago De Chile)
Cortes
The Cream
Crimes
Cristobal Miranda (shoveler, Tocopilla)
Cuauhtemoc (1520)
Cuba
The Dance (1929)
The Day Will Come
Death
Death
Death
Death In The World
Despite The Fury
The Dictators
Diego Munoz
Diplomats (1948)
Discoverers Of Chile
Dispositions
Doctor Francia
The Dollar's Lawyers
Drimis Winterei
The Earth's Name Is Juan
Earthquake
Election In Chimborongo (1947)
Elegy
The Enemies
The Enigmas
Equador
Ercilla
Eternity
Eufrosino Ramirez (casa Verde, Chuquicamata)
Exploiters
Far From Here
The Favorites
The Fish And The Drowned Person
The Flags
Floods
The Flowers Of Punitaqui
Fops
The Forest's Worms
Forever
From Above (1942)
The Frontier (1904)
Fruits Of The Earth
The Fugitive (1948)
Garcia Moreno
Gold
Gold's Road
Gongorine Mullusca
Gonzalez Videla
Gonzalez Videla, Chile's Traitor (epilogue) 1949
Great Happiness
The Great Ocean
Greece
Greetings (1949)
Guatemala
Guayaquil (1822)
The Hangmen
Happy Year To My Country In Darkness
The Head On The Spear
The Heroes
Homage To Balboa
Homeland, They Want To Parcel You Out
The House
House Wrens
How Flags Are Born
Hunger And Rage
Hunger In The South
Hymn And Homecoming (1939)
I Accuse
I Didn't Suffer
I End Here (1949)
I Invoke Them
I Recall The Sea
I Want To Return To The South (1941)
Impaled
In These Times
The Indians
Insurgent America (1800)
Jesus Gutierrez (agrarian)
Jose Cruz Achachalla (miner, Bolivia)
Jose Miguel Carrera (1810)
Juan Figueroa (maria Elena Iodine Works, Antofagasta)
The Judges
Juvencio Valle
Land And Man Unite
Lands And Men
Lautaro
Lautaro Against The Centaur
Lautaro Among The Invaders
Let The Woodcutter Awaken
The Letter
Letter To Miguel Otero Silva, In Caracas (1948)
Leviathan
The Liars
The Liberators
Life
Life And Death Of A Butterfly
Looms
Love
Luis Cortes (from Tocopilla)
Maestro Huerta (from La Despreciada Mine, Antofagasta)
The Magellanic Heart (1519)
Man
The Man Aboard The Ship
The Man Buried In The Pampa
Manking
Manuel Rodriguez
Margarita Naranjo (maria Elena Nitrate Works, Antofagasta)
Marine Night
Marti (1890)
Martinez (1932)
The Massacres
Melancholy Near Orizaba (1942)
The Men And The Islands
The Men From Pisagua
The Men Rise Up
Mexico (1940)
Mina (1817)
Minerals
Miranda Dies In The Fog (1816)
Morazan (1842)
The Nitrate Men
Not Only The Albatross
Now It's Cuba
O A Ship's Figurehead (elegy)
Oblivion
Ocean
The Oceanics
Olegario Sepulveda (shoemaker, Talcahuano)
The Oligarchies
On Mexico's Walls (1943)
On The Coast
Paraguay
Patagonia
Pedro De Valdivia's Heart
The People
Peumo Tree
Phalacrocorax
The Plaster Masks
The Poet
Pottery Shop
Prestes From Brazil (1949)
Procession In Lima (1947)
Promulgation Of The Funnel Law
Pronounced In Pacaembu (brazil, 1945)
The Protracted War
Puerto Rico
Quila Bamboo
The Rain (rapa Nui)
Rapa Nui
Recabarren (1921)
The Red Line
Red-breasted Meadowlark
Rendezvous Of Ravens
The Return (1944)
Rider In The Rain
A River
The Rivers Come Forth
Rosas (1829-1849)
A Rose
Ruben Azocar
Saddlery
San Martin (1810)
Sandino (1926)
The Satrapies
Sea Workers
The Seaports
The Ships
The Slingman
A Soldier Sleeps
Some Beasts
The Spears Are Buried
Standard Oil Co.
The Statue Builders (rapa Nui)
The Steel Gathers (1945)
Stones Of The Seaboard
The Strike
The Student (1923)
Sucre
Testament (1)
Testament (2)
There's No Forgiving
They Are Here
They Come Through The Islands
They Reach The Gulf Of Mexico (1519)
They Receive Orders Against Chile
They Shall Be Named
They Spoke To Me Before
They Steal Their Land
To Emiliano Zapata With Music By Tata Nacho
To Gonzalez Carbalho (in Rio De La Plata)
To Miguel Hernandez, Murdered In The Prisons Of Spain
To My Party
To Rafael Alberti (puerto Santa Maria, Spain)
To Silvestre Revueltas From Mexico, On His Death
Tocopilla
Tomas Lago
The Torments
Toussaint L'ouverture
Toward Recabarren
Toward The Minerals
The Traitor
Travel Companions (1921)
Tupac Amaru (1781)
The Tyrants Again
Untilled Zones
Valdiva (1544)
The Valley Of Stones (1946)
Varadero In Cuba
The Victorious People
The War (1936)
The Wars
The Wave
The Wind Over Lincoln
Wine
Winter In The South, On Horseback
Winter Ode To The Mapocho River
The Wood Line
Ximenez De Quesada
You Will Struggle
Youth
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

A fluent and readable translation. -- Times Literary Supplement

The appearance of the first complete English translation in America of Pablo Nerudas great epic Canto General should be seen as one of the most important events in twentieth-century American literature. -- Bloomsbury Review

The confidence and richness of this work reflect the richness of the poets life. . . . Written when Neruda was in his 40s, Canto General stands at the center of the poets life and work. Jack Schmitts translation . . . gives us Neruda at his most Adamic and most overtly political. . . . Schmitt has produced a consistent, readable version of the entire Canto General, and this is a major achievement. -- The Nation

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 426 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (July 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520082796
• ISBN-13: 978-0520082793
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,471,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pablo Neruda is regarded as the greatest Latin American poet of the 20th century. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971, his breadth of vision and wide range of themes are extraordinary, and his work continues to inspire new generations of writers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece of Latin American Literature, October 15, 1999

By 

Laurence My Dang - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canto General (Latin American Literature and Culture, Vol 7) (Paperback)

If you must read only one book from the Modern Latin American Literature (and this certainly would be a great mistake, if not a crime), then it should be this one. Canto General is a single poem, and yet it is a collection of poems. It is a historical epic, a social analysis, a political pamphlet, and a love sonnet. It is a song of Love and a song of Revolt, a personal song as well as a universal one; a song which whispers tenderly in your ear, and a song that screams against injustice with a loud forceful voice. It is Pablo Neruda's song and it is Chile's song, but it is truly America's song, North and South.

Written in Neruda's lyrical and mellifluous style, Canto General speaks with passion, lucidity, and even premonition of the heavy burden of social injustice and the brutality of tyrannical rule. But it also speaks with overflowing sensuality of love (for women, for the people, for his country). It would be unconscionable not to absorb and understand this book in its social and historical context, yet it would be a great mistake to view it uniquely as a political work of expression.

Read it to understand the Americas. Read it to revel in the beauty of its language. Read it to feel proud and to feel ashamed, to laugh and to cry. Read it in English (good), in Spanish (much better), or even in French (why not?)

I first read Canto General in French at the age of 15. I may since have forgotten some of the words in this book, but its impact and its spirit will probably remain with me for the rest of my life....

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Greatest Books Of the 20th Centruy, September 23, 2010

By 

Publicagent "Publicagent" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canto General, 50th Anniversary Edition (Latin American Literature and Culture) (Paperback)

How is there only one review for this? This is one of the greatest books of all-time. Neruda is one of my favorite poets and all of the reasons why are present in this text. I just learned that some people have a different impression of Neruda because they have only come across his more popular Odes and Twenty Love Songs and a Song of Despair. I like it all, but those are nowhere near the level of Canto General.

Canto General is an epic. I especially love the early passages about life on Earth before the conquistadors came. It's a complete historical account about the creation, the defilement and the restoration of the Americas. Neruda brings it all out full force in this book. I have read many passage out loud and have found myself actually winded from the unending power.

This translation is excellent. I can't compare it to others, but it's clean and seems to hit the mark really well. When reading it, I never question that it's anything but Neruda's voice. There is also a nice introduction. It also has a flap that can be used is a bookmark. It's very sturdy for a paperback.

Get this book. Each read opens new windows. Neruda is at the height of his powers here. There are wonderful passages, captivating sub-narratives, political revolts, and the poetry is unparalleled. It's actually hard to describe in words. When the mind is clear, it's some of the best poetry that there is.

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