From Publishers Weekly
The 74 poems in this collection consist entirely of questions. These questions appeal to the reader to supply images not answers. Exploiting the lag between perception and understanding, the Nobel laureate's poems evoke pictures that make sense on a visual level before the reader can grasp them on a literal one. The effect is mildly dazzling: "Where did the full moon leave / its sack of flour tonight?" Composed during the final months of a fatal illness, these poems are also pervaded by an autumnal atmosphere: "Why do leaves commit suicide / when they feel yellow?" Yet Neruda's characteristic depiction of life and death as cyclical allows him to be inquisitive and even playful toward his own mortality instead of despairing: "Will your worms become part / of dogs or of butterflies?" O'Daly's translations achieve a tone that is both meditative and spontaneous. His introduction, however, fares less well, in yielding to the misconception of Neruda ( Still Another Day ) as a kind of South American shaman rather than representing him as the shrewd and ironic poet he demonstrated himself to be even in minor works such as this. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Once called "a one-man Renaissance," Nobel laureate and Chilean poet and statesman Neruda (1904-1973) wrote these 74 poems and 316 playful questions about death, nature, and rebirth in the last year of his life. Cryptic and intriguing, these brief answerless riddles, like Roethke's visionary poems, ask the sophisticated question of the innocent child--"Is the sun the same as yesterday's/ or is the fire different than that fire?"--and probe what it means to be human: "Whom can I ask what I came/to make happen in this world?" This volume is the last in a series of seven bilingual translations from this publishers of Neruda's late and posthumously published work. American poetry and readers benefit by having excellent English-language translations of all Neruda's complicated, prolific work.- Frank Al len, SUNY at CobleskillCopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Copper Canyon's bestselling title-the bilingual translation of PabloNeruda's The Book of Questions. While Neruda craved the clarity rendered by an examined life, he refused to be corralled by the rational mind. These brief poems are composed entirely of 316 unanswerable questions, and integrate the wonder of a child with the experiences of an adult.This new edition has a new, attractive format and an updated introduction by translator William O'Daly.


Language Notes
Text: Spanish, English (translation)
Original Language: English


Excerpted from Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda, William O'Daly. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
XVIII. How did the grapes come to know
the cluster's party line? And do you know which is harder,
to let run to seed or to do the picking? It is bad to live without a hell:
aren't we able to reconstruct it? And to position sad Nixon
with his buttocks over the brazier? Roasting him on low
with North American napalm?

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This year marks the tenth anniversary of Copper Canyon's bestselling title-the bilingual translation of Pablo Neruda's The Book of Questions. While Neruda craved the clarity rendered by an examined life, he refused to be corralled by the rational mind. These brief poems are composed entirely of 316 unanswerable questions, and integrate the wonder of a child with the experiences of an adult.This new edition has a new, attractive format and an updated introduction by translator William O'Daly.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The 74 poems in this collection consist entirely of questions. These questions appeal to the reader to supply images not answers. Exploiting the lag between perception and understanding, the Nobel laureate's poems evoke pictures that make sense on a visual level before the reader can grasp them on a literal one. The effect is mildly dazzling: ``Where did the full moon leave / its sack of flour tonight?'' Composed during the final months of a fatal illness, these poems are also pervaded by an autumnal atmosphere: ``Why do leaves commit suicide / when they feel yellow?'' Yet Neruda's characteristic depiction of life and death as cyclical allows him to be inquisitive and even playful toward his own mortality instead of despairing: ``Will your worms become part / of dogs or of butterflies?'' O'Daly's translations achieve a tone that is both meditative and spontaneous. His introduction, however, fares less well, in yielding to the misconception of Neruda ( Still Another Day ) as a kind of South American shaman rather than representing him as the shrewd and ironic poet he demonstrated himself to be even in minor works such as this. (Sept.)

Library Journal

Once called ``a one-man Renaissance,'' Nobel laureate and Chilean poet and statesman Neruda (1904-1973) wrote these 74 poems and 316 playful questions about death, nature, and rebirth in the last year of his life. Cryptic and intriguing, these brief answerless riddles, like Roethke's visionary poems, ask the sophisticated question of the innocent child--``Is the sun the same as yesterday's/ or is the fire different than that fire?''--and probe what it means to be human: ``Whom can I ask what I came/to make happen in this world?'' This volume is the last in a series of seven bilingual translations from this publishers of Neruda's late and posthumously published work. American poetry and readers benefit by having excellent English-language translations of all Neruda's complicated, prolific work.-- Frank Al len, SUNY at Cobleskill

ACCREDITATION