Verses against the darkness : Pablo Neruda’s poetry and politics

Dawes (Latin American and world literature, North Carolina State U.) offers a new assessment of Neruda’s poetry by examining the intersection of his aesthetic views, methods and political radicalism from 1925 to 1954. Dawes challenges the traditional view that Neruda was a gifted poet who, in 1936, let himself be carried away by the excesses of communist politics. Dawes argues instead for an uneven but steady evolution in Neruda’s work, politics and morality. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)