Bombal and the ‘Boom’

The 'Pablo Neruda' Connect!

María Luisa Bombal is a highly-regarded Chilean author, who has incorporated themes of eroticism, surrealism and feminism in her works!

Interestingly, she had the great privilege of being mentored by Neruda himself!

In 1931, Bombal became a member of the thriving literary group often nicknamed The Boom which included legends as Jorge Luis Borges.

It was at this point of time, that, she shared an apartment with the poet Pablo Neruda and his wife, composing her first fiction at their kitchen table.

Then, Neruda, who became a Nobel Prize winner, was the Chilean consul in the Argentine capital. Inspired greatly by him, Bombal finished her first novella, The Final Mist, which met with much critical acclaim in 1935. Then, in 1938, she published her second novella, titled, The Shrouded Woman.

There are quite a lot of converges between Bombal’s writings and Neruda’s, which has immense scope for a dissertation on their oeuvre!

On Neruda!

Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of Despair (1924), is a collection of poems by Pablo Neruda, that made him very famous at the young age of 19. It contains his heartrending reflections on the passing of love, ‘‘Tonight I Can Write.’’

The Spanish Civil War that raged between 1936 and 1939, had a profound effect on Neruda’s work, politics, and personal life. Therefore, it influenced quite many writers who were also impacted much by the Spanish Civil War!

They are –

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a novel by Muriel Spark, and also the best known of her works. The story is set against the backdrop of fascism and the Spanish Civil War. It is the nineteen-thirties, and in addition to teaching her students about the Italian Renaissance painters, the benefits of cleansing cream, and the word “menarche,” Miss Brodie also expresses her admiration for Mussolini, and her support of Franco's fascist regime, in the Spanish Civil War.

Winter in Madrid by C. J. Sansom is a novel that’s set at the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. Madrid lies ruined, its people starving, while the Germans continue their relentless march through Europe. Britain now stands alone while General Franco considers whether to abandon neutrality and enter the war. Into this uncertain world comes Harry Brett, a traumatised veteran of Dunkirk turned reluctant spy for the British Secret Service. Sent to gain the confidence of old schoolfriend Sandy Forsyth, now a shady Madrid businessman, Harry finds himself involved in a dangerous game - and surrounded by memories. A vivid and haunting depiction of wartime Spain from the bestselling author of the Shardlake series.

Homage to Catalonia (1938), is a nonfiction work by George Orwell. In this work, Orwell gives a firsthand account of his experiences during the Spanish Civil War.

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), is a novel by Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway’s novel tells the story of an American working with an anti-fascist guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War.

And No Man’s Wit (1940), is a novel by Rose Macaulay. Its view of the possibility of heroism and honor during the Spanish Civil War stands in sharp contrast to those expressed in Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940).

To conclude, Geoffrey Barraclough calls Neruda ‘‘a one-man Renaissance . . . who has modified the outlook of three generations of Latin Americans. His roots are firmly planted in Chile; his appeal is to the whole continent.’’

How true at that!

Sources

Routledge/Gale/Goodreads/PanMacmillan