In relation to Neruda's previous public posture as a writer of the people, Estravagario seemed very individualistic, even frivolous in its self-indulgence. What is more, the frivolity was not unintentional. (p. 175)
How is one to interpret this about-face, Neruda's sudden lack of solemnity regarding himself and his work? Only eight years before, in 1950, at the end of Canto general, he had piously willed his books to the poets of tomorrow…. Then, speaking as the collective voice of his people, he went on to claim for his own work an enduring meaning for future generations…. In 1958 he makes no such claim on posterity. He does not even ask that his writings be practical or utilitarian as in the elemental odes; he shrugs literature off as a light entertainment. Neruda's stance in Estravagario is that of an anti-poet. His subject is himself. (pp. 177-78)
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