'Pablo Neruda was the King Midas of language. Everything he touched became poetry,' observed Mexican novelist, Carlos Fuentes.
Published to coincide with the centenary of Neruda's birth, 'A Passion for Life' is the first full portrait of the Chilean poet and Nobel laureate, best known for 'Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair'.
Adam Feinstein shows Neruda the romantic lyricist become Neruda the exposer of social injustices, living underground for a year before fleeing Chile in a dramatic escape across the Andes into exile. But alongside the humanity of his work, Feinstein also shows Neruda's political fault lines and romantic betrayals that caused hurt to the women in his life.
