I don't really know about other people, but when I am reading something, whether fiction or non-fiction, and they mention an author that intrigues me, but which I don't know much about, I frequently go about trying to read something by that author. I have heard Neruda's name frequently, associated with politics as well as poetry, but I had not picked him up yet. Too many other books currently sitting around half-read is the most likely excuse, or that I wasn't currently in a poetry mood. Whatever the excuse, I did finally get around to reading a bit, and I liked it, though I did not pick up his love poems, and mention of his love poems is what prompted me to grab a collection as well as one of his long poems. (A Boy and His Dragon by R. Cooper is the book that referenced Neruda this time.)
Thinking back, when I read Anais Nin's diaries ages ago, and there were so many writers mentioned, so many that I did pick up and read, Henry Miller and Lawrence Durrell chief among them. In the case of Nin, she opened up a collection of literature that I hadn't previously known about, since American writers in Paris during the twenties get so much more press than those that followed.
At least I am still exploring and following my curiosity, though I sometimes feel I am not doing a good job there, getting lost in whatever other activities that I have going on.
No comments:
Post a Comment