The Complete Memoirs

by Pablo Neruda

  1933 NOVEMBER 11: The poet is given a consular post in Barcelona.

  1934 MAY: Along with his pregnant wife, Neruda arrives in Barcelona to take up his post. In 1950, he will recollect the Spain he arrived in as the home of “a brilliant fraternity of talents where my work was fully known.”

  1934 MAY 25: The poet Alberto Rojas Giménez, one of Neruda’s closest friends, dies in Santiago. Neruda dedicates to him the elegy “Alberto Rojas Giménez viene volando” (“Alberto Rojas Giménez Comes Flying”).

  1934 MAY 31: Neruda travels by train to Madrid, where Federico García Lorca waits for him at the Estación del Norte.

  1934 JUNE 2: At a party given for Neruda, held in the home of Carlos Morla Lynch, the poet meets the Argentine painter Delia del Carril, who will become his second wife.

  1934 JULY: Neruda and Miguel Hernández meet during one of the latter’s trips to Madrid from Orihuela, the town of Hernández’s birth.

  1934 AUGUST 18: Malva Marina Reyes Hagenaar, the poet’s only daughter, is born in Madrid. On the twenty-fifth of the month, Neruda writes to inform his father and attempts to minimize the girl’s health problems, even as she is in danger of dying.

  1934 DECEMBER 6: Neruda gives a recital at the University of Madrid. García Lorca introduces him as “a poet closer to death than to philosophy, closer to pain than to intelligence, closer to blood than to ink.”

  1934 DECEMBER 19: Neruda is given a temporary commission as attaché to the Chilean Embassy in Madrid, while maintaining the functions he carries out at the consulate in Barcelona.

  1935 APRIL: The pamphlet Homenaje a Pablo Neruda de los poetas españoles/ Tres cantos materiales (Spanish Poets Pay Homage to Pablo Neruda/Three Material Songs) is published in Madrid by Plutarco. In addition to the “Three Material Songs,” it includes a tribute to Neruda by all the most important Spanish poets of the day, with the exception of Juan Ramón Jiménez and Juan Larrea.

  1935 JUNE 21–25: Neruda participates in the First International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture, which takes place in Paris.

  1935 SEPTEMBER 15: The first edition of Residence on Earth I and II appears in Madrid, published in two volumes by Cruz y Raya in its series Ediciones del Árbol.

  1935 OCTOBER: Gabriela Mistral is transferred from Madrid to Lisbon, and Neruda takes over the role of consul in Madrid.

  1935 OCTOBER: The first volume of the journal Caballo verde para la poesía (Green Horse for Poetry), edited by Neruda, appears. Three more volumes follow. Issues 5 and 6 are printed, bound, and delivered to the warehouse, but are lost amid the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

  1935 NOVEMBER–DECEMBER: The prestigious French magazine Les Mois, which offers monthly reports on significant events in the literary world, affirms that “the most important poetry publication of the year is undoubtedly the two-volume collection Residence on Earth by the Chilean Pablo Neruda.”

  1936 JULY 18: With the military uprising led by Francisco Franco, the Spanish Civil War begins.

  1936 AUGUST 18: The poet Federico García Lorca is murdered in Granada.

  1936 SEPTEMBER 24: In the militant journal El mono azul (The Blue Monkey), the poem “Canto a las madres de los milicianos muertos” (Song to the Mothers of the Murdered Militiamen) appears. It will later form part of the collection España en el corazón (Spain in My Heart).

  1936 EARLY NOVEMBER: Madrid is bombarded. Neruda, Delia del Carril, Luis Enrique Délano, and his wife, Lola Falcón, leave for Valencia, where Neruda will depart from to Barcelona to reunite with his wife and daughter, who arrived there in July.

  1936 DECEMBER 7: The Madrid and Barcelona consulates are shuttered. Neruda is not assigned to another post. He and his family travel to Marseilles and from there to Monte Carlo, where he will leave María Antonieta Hagenaar and his daughter. The two of them travel on to Holland.

  1937 JANUARY: Neruda resides in Paris with Delia del Carril.

  1937 FEBRUARY 20: Neruda gives a lecture in homage to Federico García Lorca, under the auspices of the Alliance of Antifascist Intellectuals. Neruda openly declares his support for the Spanish Republic, and receives notice of the Ministry’s disapproval of his political activities in Paris.

  1937 In France, Neruda and Nancy Cunard edit the journal Les poètes du monde défendent le peuple espagnol (Poets of the World Defend the Spanish People). Six issues will be published.

  1937 APRIL: Neruda works for the Association for the Defense of Culture, helping to organize the Second International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture.

  1937 JULY 4–7: Neruda helps lead the Second International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture, which takes place in Valencia and Madrid. Paris is the meeting point for the foreign delegates, who will travel from there to warring Spain by train.

  6. I WENT OUT TO LOOK FOR THE FALLEN

  1937 AUGUST 26: Neruda, Delia del Carril, Raúl González Tuñón, and his wife, Amparo Mom, embark in Antwerp on the steamer Arica. On October 10, they reach Valparaíso. During the crossing, the poet completes España en el corazón (Spain in My Heart).

  1937 OCTOBER: In Santiago two large gatherings welcome Neruda, one in the Parque Cousiño and the other in the Quinta Normal restaurant. The latter, organized by the P.E.N. club, has some two hundred guests.

  1937 NOVEMBER 7: In the Honor Hall of the University of Chile, a ceremony takes place to inaugurate the Alliance of Chilean Intellectuals for the Defense of Culture. In his speech, Neruda affirms its goals of fighting fascism and of solidarity with Republican Spain.

  1937 NOVEMBER 13: The publisher Ercilla, based in Santiago, publishes España en el corazón. The first edition, of 2,800 copies, soon sells out.

  1937 DECEMBER 13: At the Municipal Theater in Santiago, the Alliance of Chilean Intellectuals for the Defense of Culture organizes its first public presentation, the centerpiece of which is a lyrical discussion entitled “Tempestad en España” (Storm in Spain) by Pablo Neruda and Raúl González Tuñón. The evening’s success will lead its organizers to repeat the event on December 19 in Valparaíso.

  1938 MAY 6 OR 7: José del Carmen Reyes, the poet’s father, dies in Temuco.

  1938 AUGUST 1: The journal Aurora de Chile (Daybreak in Chile) appears, edited by the Alliance of Chilean Intellectuals for the Defense of Culture and overseen by Neruda.

  1938 AUGUST 18: Neruda’s stepmother, Trinidad Candia Marverde, “La Mamadre,” dies. The family decides to place José del Carmen and his wife in the same niche. Overwhelmed by the double loss and the exhumation of his father’s remains, Neruda will write “La copa de sangre” (The Cup of Blood), an extremely important autobiographical text.

  1938 OCTOBER 25: The standard bearer of the Popular Front, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, triumphs in Chile’s presidential elections, defeating the socialist candidate Gustavo Ross.

  1938 NOVEMBER 7: Located at the Montserrat Monastery, Catalonia, Ediciones Literarias del Comisariado del Ejército del Este, directed by Manuel Altolaguirre, publishes España en el corazón in an initial print run of five hundred copies.

  1939 The purchase of Isla Negra and its cabin is finalized. The poet will build several new wings onto the house, and will compose the better part of his works there.

  1939 At the beginning of the year, President Pedro Aguirre Cerda names Neruda consul, second class, in Paris starting on April 15. His main responsibility will be immigration from Spain.

  1939 MARCH: Neruda leaves for France via Buenos Aires and Montevideo, where he participates in the International Congress of American Democracies. There he requests the aid needed to transport Spanish refugees to Chile.

  1939 END OF APRIL: Neruda arrives in Paris. He begins work, struggling against the obstacles the embassy puts in his way as well as the politicians and the press opposed to the Chilean government.

  1939 JUNE: In the French port of Le Havre, repair work begins on the Winnipeg, the ship that will transport the Spanish refugees.

  1939 JULY 29: Minister of Foreign Affair
s Abraham Ortega tells the Minister in Paris that “they will accept up to 1,500 able-bodied refugees along with their families, that is, their wives and children, until the ship is at capacity.”

  1939 AUGUST 4: The Winnipeg departs from the port of Trompe-loup. On board are around two thousand Spanish refugees and thirty-five Chileans who had fought for the International Brigades.

  1939 AUGUST 30: The Winnipeg reaches Arica. After receiving offers of work, some of the refugees decide to stay there.

  1939 SEPTEMBER 2: The Winnipeg arrives in Valparaíso at night. The passengers disembark on the third, the same day the Second World War begins.

  1939 MID-NOVEMBER: Before returning to Chile, the poet travels to Holland to visit his daughter, Malva Marina, and Maruca Hagenaar.

  1939 EARLY DECEMBER: Neruda begins his return voyage to Chile with Delia del Carril on the transatlantic liner Augustus, which reaches Valparaíso on the twenty-ninth of the month.

  7. MEXICO, BLOSSOMING AND THORNY

  1940 JANUARY 1: Neruda and Delia are greeted in Santiago by artists, writers, politicians, and Spanish refugees.

  1940 JANUARY 18: In Spain, the poet Miguel Hernández is sentenced to death. Neruda tries to help him from Chile. Eventually, Franco will commute his sentence to the maximum of thirty years’ imprisonment.

  1940 JUNE 19: Neruda is officially named Chile’s Consul General in Mexico.

  1940 LATE JULY: Neruda leaves Valparaíso on the steamship Yasukuni Maru with Delia del Carril, Luis Enrique Délano, and his wife, Lola Falcón.

  1940 AUGUST 17: They reach Mexico City. The poet takes up his post on the twenty-first. He and Delia rent an apartment on Calle Revillagigedo and later a house called Quinta Rosa María.

  1941 APRIL: Neruda grants a Chilean entry visa to the muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros, who had been imprisoned for his role in an attempt to assassinate Trotsky. The Ministry orders the visa annulled. Siqueiros had planned to paint a mural at the Escuela México in Chillán. Finally, he is accepted into Chile, and the poet is penalized with a month’s suspension from work without pay.

  1941 JUNE: Neruda and Delia travel to Guatemala, where he meets Miguel Ángel Asturias. He gives a recital organized by a group of young poets with the authorization of the dictator Jorge Ubico.

  1941 JULY 24: In Mexico, Neruda participates in an homage to Simón Bolívar organized by the National Autonomous University. He reads his poem “Un canto para Bolívar” (A Song for Bolívar). A fascist group interrupts the proceedings.

  1941 LATE AUGUST: There is a break with Octavio Paz.

  1941 After the German invasion of the U.S.S.R., Neruda plays an active role in actions and aid organizations supporting the Soviet Union in the war.

  1941 DECEMBER 28: At a restaurant in Cuernavaca, Neruda, Delia, Luis Enrique Délano, his wife, and their young son, Poli Délano, are attacked by a group of German Nazis. The poet is wounded in the head. The Mexican press unilaterally condemns the violence.

  1942 JANUARY 5: The photographer Tina Modotti, an active opponent of Fascism, dies in Mexico. Neruda will write the poem “Tina Modotti ha muerto” (Tina Modotti Has Died), the first verses of which are engraved on Modotti’s tomb.

  1942 EARLY MARCH: Neruda travels to Cuba with Delia del Carril, invited by the country’s Ministry of Education. There he receives notice of the death of Miguel Hernández in a Francoist prison in Alicante.

  1942 SEPTEMBER 30: At an event organized by the Friends of the Soviet Union, Neruda reads his poem “Canto de amor a Stalingrado” (Song to Stalingrad), which is later printed on posters and pasted on the walls of Mexico City.

  1943 FEBRUARY: Neruda travels to the United States with Delia to participate in La Noche de las Américas (The Night of the Americas), which takes place in one of the major theaters on Broadway.

  1943 MARCH 2: Malva Marina Reyes Hagenaar, the poet’s only daughter, dies in German-occupied Holland.

  1943 JULY 2: The poet marries Delia del Carril in Tetecala, in the state of Morelos, Mexico.

  1943 JUNE: Leocadia Felizardo de Prestes, mother of the communist leader Luis Carlos Prestes, dies in Mexico. Luis Carlos is imprisoned in Brazil at the time. Pleas for Prestes’s temporary release to allow him to attend the burial are rejected. At the funeral, on June 18, Neruda reads his poem “Dura elegía” (Hard Elegy), in which he levels bitter critiques at President Getulio Vargas, though without naming him. The Brazilian government protests. The Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs considers this a grave breach of protocol. Neruda requests six months’ leave to travel to Chile and initiate his retirement from the diplomatic service.

  1943 AUGUST 21: Neruda receives a doctor honoris causa from the University of San Nicolás de Hidalgo, in Morelia, Michoacán.

  1943 AUGUST 27: Mexico says goodbye to Neruda at El Frontón, a large sporting facility capable of accommodating the crowd. On this occasion, he reads his poem “En los muros de México” (On the Walls of Mexico), which he will later include in his Canto general.

  1943 Neruda and Delia depart for Panama. Their long return voyage to Chile includes stops in many countries on the Pacific coast.

  8. MY COUNTRY IN DARKNESS

  1943 SEPTEMBER 3: Neruda and Delia arrive in Panama, where they remain for several days.

  1943 SEPTEMBER 8: Neruda arrives in Bogotá, invited by the government of the liberal President Alfonso López Pumarejo. Conservative senator Laureano Gómez attacks him in verse, and Neruda responds with his “Tres sonetos punitivos para Laureano Gómez” (Three Punitive Sonnets for Laureano Gómez).

  1943 OCTOBER 15: Neruda arrives in Lima, where the President of the Republic, Manuel Prado, invites him to lunch and arranges for him to visit the Inca ruins of Macchu Picchu.

  1943 OCTOBER 31: After three days’ journey by mule from Cuzco, Neruda, Delia, and the Peruvian congressman Uriel García reach Macchu Picchu.

  1943 NOVEMBER 4: Neruda arrives in Santiago, where he participates in the activities of the Communist Party.

  1944 MAY 21: Neruda receives the Municipal Literature Prize, awarded by the city of Santiago.

  1944 DECEMBER: Though not officially a member of the Communist Party, Neruda is named its candidate to the senate for the provinces of Tarapacá and Antofagasta.

  1945 JANUARY–MARCH: As part of his electoral campaign, Neruda crosses the pampa with Elías Lafertte, a former worker from the saltpeter mines, President of the Communist Party, and a senatorial candidate himself. Both are victorious in the elections of March 4.

  1945 MAY 24: Neruda is awarded Chile’s National Prize for Literature.

  1945 JULY 8: Neruda receives his Communist Party membership card.

  1945 JULY 15: In São Paolo, Brazil, in the Pacaembú Stadium, an event honors the Communist leader Luis Carlos Prestes, recently freed through an amnesty decree. In front of more than a hundred thousand people, Neruda reads his poem “Saludo a Luis Carlos Prestes” (Greetings to Luis Carlos Prestes).

  1945 SEPTEMBER: Neruda withdraws from public life to rest in Isla Negra and devote himself to the composition of a poem about Macchu Picchu.

  1946 JULY 21: A center-left coalition elects Gabriel González Videla as candidate for the presidency. In August, Pablo Neruda is named propaganda chief and will accompany González Videla on his tours through the country.

  1946 SEPTEMBER 1: At a ceremony in Santiago’s National Stadium celebrating the close of the campaign, Neruda accepts González Videla’s oath to uphold his governning program.

  1946 SEPTEMBER 4: González Videla wins the presidential election.

  1947 JUNE 12: A strike by Santiago’s public transport workers ends with four dead and dozens wounded. González Videla publicly blames the Communist Party for these incidents. Neruda contradicts him in the senate.

  1947 AUGUST 17: The coal miners declare an indefinite strike. González Videla accuses the Communist Party of provoking strikes for political ends, breaks with the party, and puts the coal-mining regions under military control.

  1947 OCT
OBER 14: Neruda delivers the first of three speeches in the senate that will make him President González Videla’s main adversary.

  1947 NOVEMBER 27: Neruda writes in the daily paper El Nacional in Caracas: “The democratic crisis in Chile is a dramatic warning for our continent.” His words circulate in other countries in Latin America as “A Personal Letter to Millions of Men.”

  1947 DECEMBER 10: In the senate, Neruda delivers the second of his three speeches against González Videla.

  1947 DECEMBER 24: The government sends a written order for the Justice Department to file a petition for the impeachment of Senator Pablo Neruda.

  1948 JANUARY 6: In the senate, Neruda delivers one of his most celebrated speeches, published later under the title “Yo acuso” (I accuse).

  1948 JANUARY 27: Neruda attempts to reach Argentina by car. The attempt is a failure, as is a second one, this time to reach Mendoza, and a petition for political asylum in Mexico.

  1948 FEBRUARY 3: The Supreme Court strips Senator Neruda of his post. An arrest warrant is issued, and the poet goes underground, moving from house to house while finishing Canto general.

  1948 FEBRUARY 26: María Hagenaar travels to Chile. The government sponsors her trip with the express purpose of causing problems for the poet. Eventually he agrees to make payments to his ex-wife.

  1948 AUGUST 25–30: At the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace in Wrocław, Poland, the celebrated painter Pablo Picasso gives the one public speech of his life, proposing a resolution in Neruda’s defense.

  1949 FEBRUARY: The poet reaches the town of Futrono, in the south of Chile. At a tree plantation, he makes preparations to flee to Argentina.

  1949 MID-FEBRUARY: Neruda, with two friends and three mule drivers, crosses the mountains on horseback through a pass used by horse thieves and contrabandists.

  1949 EARLY MARCH: Neruda reaches San Martín de los Andes in Argentina, then travels on to Buenos Aires. With the help of the writer Miguel Ángel Asturias, who lends him his passport, he manages to depart for Europe.