Fully empowered by Pablo Neruda translated by Alistair Reed
Fully Empowered first appeared in Spanish in 1962, under the title Plenos Poderes. Neruda himself regarded this collection as a particular favourite (and specifically asked the poet Alistair Reed to translate it into English), partly because it came out of a most fruitful period in his life, partly because it is a representative anthology of his vast poetic range. The thirty-six poems vary from short, intense lyrics, through characteristic Neruda odes and whimsical addresses to friends, to magnificent meditations on the office of poet. It includes a few poems which would unquestionably claim a place in any selection of Neruda’s greatest work, notably “The People” (El Pueblo), the most celebrated of his later poems.
In his last years Neruda was preoccupied with contradiction as a fact of human experience, and many of the poems in this volume explore contradiction and paradox, and the attendant theme of the poet as a cluster of different selves, often contradictory. As more and more of Neruda’s work becomes popular to English-speaking readers, it becomes clear that there are many Nerudas, many distinct poetic selves, many and varied styles. And Fully Empowered (the title is deliberately ambiguous in its diplomatic, legal and poetic implementations) is indeed a demonstration of the dazzling diversity, in manner and theme, of this most inexhaustible of poets.
A bilingual edition, translated by Alastair Reid
Good Used Condition
Dustcover and top end of pages show some foxing
Inscription on 4th page (see photos)
| Condition | Acceptable |
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