Library of Congress Details How Pablo Neruda Came to be Translated into English

How DID Pablo Neruda's poems find their way into English? The official blog of the Library of Congress provides readers with an in-depth backstory about one of the most revered and most translated Latin American poets. From LOC:

The poems of Pablo Neruda are among the most frequently translated works in the English language. While the Chilean poet has for many years enjoyed a huge readership in the United States, thanks to the widespread availability of English-language editions of his poetry, few people are aware of the integral role played by the Library of Congress in first introducing his poetry to a U.S. audience.

The contributions of the Library to the dissemination of Neruda’s poetry in the United States was brought to life by Bill Fisher in a July 9th illustrated lecture, “Pablo Neruda in the Heart of the Library of Congress,” sponsored by the Library’s Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Pablo Neruda visited the U.S. three times during his life. The first two times he came, in 1943 and 1966, he went out of his way to make a special trip to the Library of Congress. Fisher, a book collector with a special focus on the work on Pablo Neruda, centered his talk around Neruda’s 1943 Library visit and his interactions with two Library staff: Librarian of Congress (and fellow poet) Archibald Macleish and Francisco Aguilera, then assistant chief of the Hispanic Division.

While I enjoyed hearing Fisher detail the friendship that developed between Neruda and Macleish, I was especially fascinated to learn about Fisher’s detective work in demonstrating the key role that Aguilera—and by extension the Library of Congress—played in getting Neruda’s poetry translated into English. Leading attendees through a series of images taken of items in the Library’s collections, his personal collections, and those of other collectors, Fisher provided evidence that Aguilera, who Neruda had previously met in Chile before his 1943 Library visit, was “directly responsible” for introducing Neruda’s poetry to Angel Flores. Flores translated the first two standalone books by Neruda in English, Selected Poems (1944) and Residence on Earth, and Other Poems (1946).[...]

Of course Neruda has had a long history of being translated in Poetry, going back to his first appearance in the May 1943 Latin American Issue with "Fantom of the Freighter," translated by H. R. Hays. Go on and read more of Neruda's work here.