NEW YORK — At a time when we plainly see the negative effects of politics and greed in the life of nations, it is important to remember Pablo Neruda, a Chilean writer whom Gabriel Garcia Marquez called "the greatest poet of the 20th century — in any language." He was an artist who knew very well how to blend politics and poetry in his life.
Neruda was born Ricardo Eliecer Neftali Reyes Basoalto in 1904 and died in 1973. When he was 16, he changed his name to Pablo Neruda, probably after the Czech writer Jan Neruda. He started writing poetry at 10.
I started reading him when I was a medical student in the 1960s, and haven't stopped. How could I? Two of his books — "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair" (written when he was only 20) and "The Captain's Verses" — are intertwined with my first sentimental adventures. Like millions in Latin America — and across the world — once I read Neruda, he became part of my life.