The Chilean Landscape in Ai Qing's Poetry: Visiting Pablo Neruda in 1954

Abstract

This paper delves into the friendship between poets Ai Qing and Pablo Neruda during the 1950s, considering that both poets travelled to each other’s countries of origin, China (1952/57) and Chile (1954). Ai visited Neruda’s home in Isla Negra to celebrate his 50th birthday in July 1954. While there, he felt heavily inspired by the Pacific Ocean and Neruda’s house. His most prominent poem written during this period, “On a Chilean Promontory” (1954), dedicated to Neruda, has received little to no attention from literary critics, especially from Chile. In this paper, I will examine Ai’s poem to develop a Chilean/Nerudian reading of it as I also sustain that, at least in translation (English, Spanish and Portuguese), this poem follows on Neruda’s free verse, which is also a poetic inheritance from other great poets, especially Walt Whitman. Ai Qing’s descriptions of both the Chilean landscape and Neruda’s home and belongings are poeticised together with references to the Spanish Civil War and the Chilean poet’s role fighting against fascism. This research has been funded by the Louis Cha Fund for Chinese and East/West Studies.