Grapes And The Wind

Despite being one of Neruda’s most important works following publication of Canto General, Las Uvas y el Viento [Grapes and the Wind, 1954] has never previously been translated into English.  Written in political exile from his Chile because of his membership in the Communist Party, Neruda describes a political and poetic landscape during post-WWII ranging from Isla Negra in Chile to Mao’s China.  In essence, the poem is Neruda’s hymn to newly-emergent nations and societies in Europe and Asia while at the same time comprising a lyric to his distant homeland.