The Neruda Case (46 page)

Neruda died on September 27, 1973, when Pinochet’s dictatorship was sixteen days into its seventeen-year duration. He died of cancer, but also from the pain of watching the tragic end of his political dream. He couldn’t bear the bombing of La Moneda, or the death of Allende, or the murder and imprisonment of thousands of people, or the echoing shots of nocturnal firing squads or the chilling sound of armored helicopters as they patrolled the city. In 1990, Chile returned to democracy and freedom. Pablo Neruda’s poems, many of them born in his Valparaíso home, were a source of inspiration for many people as they fought the dictatorship and strove to create a more just society. As his Valparaíso neighbor, I owed Don Pablo a novel that portrayed his full being.

Iowa City    
August 2011

Roberto Ampuero
is an internationally bestselling, award-winning author. He has published twelve novels in Spanish, and his works have been translated around the world.
The Neruda Case
is his first novel published in English. Born in Chile, Ampuero is a professor of creative writing at the University of Iowa and currently serves as Chile’s ambassador to Mexico. He lives in Mexico City and lowa City.

Carolina De Robertis
is the translator of
Bonsai
, by Alejandro Zambra, and other works published in
Granta, Zoetrope : All-Story,
and
Two Lines
. She is the author of the novels
Perla
and the international bestseller
The Invisible Mountain,
which was translated into fifteen languages and received Italy’s Rhegium Julii Prize. It was also awarded an
O
, as
The Oprah Magazine
Terrific Read of 2009, and named the
San Francisco Chronicle
Best Book of the Year. Robertis grew up in a Uruguayan family that emigrated to England, Switzerland, and California. She is the recipient of a 2012 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.