Naomi Bernstein
on translating Pablo Neruda
After immersing myself in Pablo Neruda’s Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, my outlook on the state of modern love became exceedingly cynical. Neruda was twenty years old when he wrote his book of love poems, and in it he demonstrates a respect and passion for women that most contemporary men won’t reach in a lifetime. I translated Neruda to combat “locker room banter” and the harmful rhetoric toward women that has been normalized in our society.
My goal was to maintain a level of fluidity here that will inevitably fail in comparison to Neruda’s rhythm. Spanish can roll in a way that English doesn’t, but it was essential to me that the language I chose be as smooth as a net tossed over the ocean. This was especially difficult because part of the smoothness of Spanish comes from the order in which sentences are arranged; it’s vastly different from English syntax. I’m proud of the way this translation reads within the confines of the English language.
about the author
Pablo Neruda was an internationally renowned Chilean poet and politician. He was born in 1904 in Parral, Chile, and he wrote in his native Spanish. Especially prolific, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. His strong commitment to the Communist Party had significant influence on his poetry, though he wrote about a variety of subjects, from ordinary human existence and love to world events. His style drew on surrealism, political manifestos, and historical epics. Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez described Neruda as “the greatest poet of the twentieth century in any language.”
about the translator
Naomi Bernstein is a student at the University of Pennsylvania studying English and creative writing. She was recently honored with the Ezra Pound Award for her translation of Gabriel Mistral’s “Set Free” and she was awarded third place for the Judy Lee Award for Dramatic Writing for her short play, Virtual Snow.
photo by Naomi Bernstein
