The Postman

Rating:
Summary: animated by a sense of the beauty of language and poetry
Review: I don't much like the poetry of Pablo Neruda. I loathe communists in general. And I think General Pinochet did the right thing when he overthrew Salvador Allende. But somehow, I love this story of a young postman on Isla Negra, Chile and the relationship that he develops with his sole customer, the great communist poet Neruda.

Mario Jimenez has no desire to follow in the footsteps of his father and most of the other men of the island and become a fisherman. So he leaps at the chance to take over a postal route that requires only that he deliver the voluminous correspondence that comes for the island's most famous resident. Timidly at first and then more insistently, Mario calls upon Neruda to teach him about poetry and language. Then, after meeting a luminous young bar maid named Beatrice, he demands that Neruda help him to woo her. Eventually Mario wins her love, in large part through his own poetical devices, including an amusing string of metaphors.

When Salvador Allende assumes the Chilean presidency, Neruda is sent to France as ambassador and Mario becomes sort of a surrogate set of eyes and ears for the poet, sending him observations and recordings of daily life. Initially, life is good in the new Chile, but things gradually deteriorate in an onslaught of shortages, work stoppages and violence. Neruda, who in the intervening years has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, returns home to the island to die and Mario is whisked away "for questioning."

Despite the down beat ending, this short novel is filled with memorable, if overly idealized, characters, for whom the author clearly has great affection, and scenes of thrilling erotic passion and it is animated by a sense of the beauty of language and poetry. I recommend both the book and the Oscar winning movie adaptation of several years ago.

GRADE: A

Rating:
Summary: animated by a sense of the beauty of language and poetry
Review: I don't much like the poetry of Pablo Neruda. I loathe communists in general. And I think General Pinochet did the right thing when he overthrew Salvador Allende. But somehow, I love this story of a young postman on Isla Negra, Chile and the relationship that he develops with his sole customer, the great communist poet Neruda.

Mario Jimenez has no desire to follow in the footsteps of his father and most of the other men of the island and become a fisherman. So he leaps at the chance to take over a postal route that requires only that he deliver the voluminous correspondence that comes for the island's most famous resident. Timidly at first and then more insistently, Mario calls upon Neruda to teach him about poetry and language. Then, after meeting a luminous young bar maid named Beatrice, he demands that Neruda help him to woo her. Eventually Mario wins her love, in large part through his own poetical devices, including an amusing string of metaphors.

When Salvador Allende assumes the Chilean presidency, Neruda is sent to France as ambassador and Mario becomes sort of a surrogate set of eyes and ears for the poet, sending him observations and recordings of daily life. Initially, life is good in the new Chile, but things gradually deteriorate in an onslaught of shortages, work stoppages and violence. Neruda, who in the intervening years has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, returns home to the island to die and Mario is whisked away "for questioning."

Despite the down beat ending, this short novel is filled with memorable, if overly idealized, characters, for whom the author clearly has great affection, and scenes of thrilling erotic passion and it is animated by a sense of the beauty of language and poetry. I recommend both the book and the Oscar winning movie adaptation of several years ago.

GRADE: A

Rating:
Summary: A poetic look at Neruda's postman
Review: My first reaction on opening this book was one of surprise: the book, unlike the movie, is completely Chilean, with no Italian connection whatsoever. As such, the book, in my view, fits better into its context than the movie did.

This is the story of one Mario, who becomes a postman once Isla Negra, an island off the coast of Chile, gets a literate resident, Pablo Neruda. Mario is an admirer of Neruda's works, and is determined to form a personal bond with the poet, with a veiw to getting a coveted autograph. When Mario falls in love with the local beauty Beatriz, however, his bond with Neruda becomes much more than that of an autograph-seeker: the poet recognises a fellow dreamer in Mario, and helps him in his quest of love.

The story is presented in a ceremonial language sometimes verging on the pompous, as in "He was bathed in the light of the incommensurable moon and felt certain, as he stroked her neck, that he knew about infinity." Skármeta's choice of words only adds to the charm of the novella, though. As the author shows in his prologue to "The Postman", he does not take his own verbosity seriously, using it, rather, to add an ironic touch to an otherwise idyllic tale.

Rating:
Summary: !Muy bien!
Review: On one level The Postman is the comical story of how Mario the postman seduces Beatriz with the help of Pablo Neruda. But it is also about the role "letters" play in the political process, and more specifically their role during the period of Salvador Allende's rise to the presidency in Chile and his subsequent fall when his government was overthrown by a brutal CIA-sponsored coup.

Throughout the novel Mario is a symbol of the rise of Allende's Popular Unity government, and the major events in the narrative are related to political events. For example, Mario first sees Beatriz the day that Neruda is asked to run for President of Chila. Neruda leaves the race when Allende decides to run again, and the day that Allende is elected Mario and Beatriz make love for the first time.

Mario's poetic apprenticeship with Neruda is also part of the political transformations of the time. Mario eventually becomes a different type of "man of letters." Not only does he become a capable poet, but when Neruda is in France as Chile' Ambassador, Mario studies French.

At the moment of the coup, Mario's role becomes more overtly political. He first courageously goes to the post office and retrieves Neruda's mail. He memorizes the mail and then sneaks into Neruda's house, which is surrounded by the military. Although Neruda wants Mario to recite poetry, Mario recites for Neruda offer of political asylum from countries all over the world.

The night that Neruda dies in a Santiago hospital, Mario is taken away. He is never seen again. The narrative we are told is written because Beatriz wanted Mario's story told. In a play based on the novel, Beatriz, her mother and her baby march on the stage in silent protest as the play ends. In the recent film of the same name, Beatriz is nothing more than a voyeuristic delight, and the class boundaries between Mario and Neruda are carefully maintained. In the Spanish text of the novel, when Mario has finished reciting the mail to Neruda, Neruda asks to go to the window. As they move to the window, the narrator says, "they moved as though they were one man." This line is unfortunately not in the English translation.

Skarmeta has told of accompanying the historical Neruda on political campaigns. On one occaision they visited an area poopulated by overworked and poverty-stricken workers who were familiar with the bulk of Neruda's poetry. More than anything this novel is about "letters" that can break barriers between workers and intellectuals and between culture and its historical and political exigencies.

Rating:
Summary: Isla Negra is NOT an island
Review: You can read the other reviews for comments about the book, but I feel compelled to correct everyone's misstatement about Neruda living on an "island." I have been to Isla Negra and to Neruda's home turned museum there, and it is a costal town in Chile, not an island (despite the name!) Neruda was a Chilean poet who appealed to the "common person," making the story entirely believable.

Rating:
Summary: Isla Negra is NOT an island
Review: You can read the other reviews for comments about the book, but I feel compelled to correct everyone's misstatement about Neruda living on an "island." I have been to Isla Negra and to Neruda's home turned museum there, and it is a costal town in Chile, not an island (despite the name!) Neruda was a Chilean poet who appealed to the "common person," making the story entirely believable.