The Dreamer

Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) was named Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto when he was born. Although he didn’t legally adopt the name Pablo Neruda until 1946, he began using the pseudonym to sign his work much earlier because his father disapproved of his writing. Neruda’s poetry was popular with global audiences during his lifetime, and in 1971 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is considered by many to be the most widely-read Latin American poet of all time.

In 1921, Neruda left Southern Chile, where he’d grown up, and moved to Santiago for college. He studied French, intending to become a French instructor, but left school before long to focus on writing poetry. He published his first volume, Twilight Book, in 1923. It was followed the next year by Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, which became his most popular work.

Neruda worked as a Chilean diplomat in various countries between 1927 and 1935. This included Spain, where he was horrified by the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), especially at the hands of ultra-nationalist dictator Francisco Franco. This experience inspired Neruda’s political writings and poetry and led him to join the Communist Party.

In 1945, Neruda joined the Chilean senate as a representative of the Communist Party. He later fell out with President Gabriel González Videla and was forced into hiding. During this exile, he first spent time in Argentina and then made his way to Europe and other parts of the world until the González Videla government fell in 1952 and Neruda was welcomed back to his home country.

Chile’s Communist Party nominated Neruda for president in 1969, but he stepped aside to support the candidacy of his friend, Salvador Allende. Four years later, Allende was killed in a coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. Though Neruda had cancer at the time, the occurrence of his death mere days after this coup raised speculation about the true cause.

The story of Neruda’s childhood in The Dreamer delves into his influences and inspirations, painting a picture of his formative years. It emphasizes his troubled relationship with his father, which led him to adopt the name Pablo Neruda. The book also depicts how he came to value speaking out against injustice, which informed his political activism. In her “Author’s Note,” Muñoz Ryan cites the dictatorship of General Pinochet, whose armed guards searched and ransacked Neruda’s home just days before his death. She reports that when they arrived, Neruda told them, “Look around—there’s only one thing of danger for you here: poetry” (358). Neftalí’s recognition of The Power of Words in The Dreamer creates a backdrop for this iconic quote.