Literature Divided

  During the beginning of the Cold War, the tension between The United States and The Soviet Union had affected other countries, not just themselves. Because of the influences of the U.S., Latin America started a transition from a mostly left leaning ideology to a more democratic way of governing.  This transition affected everything in people’s daily lives from, freedoms they had to prices of goods.  Even literature was affected.  Two very influential authors from this time are Pablo Neruda and Jorge Luis Borges. Politics played a role in literature as we can see from these two men.

Jorge Luis Borges(left) and Pablo Neruda(right)

                “During the Cold War, most authors sided with left” (267) says John Charles Chasteen in the book Born in Blood and Fire. Pablo Neruda was one of these authors.  Neruda was a popular Chilean poet and diplomat. For his poems he has won the Nobel Prize.  In his poems he wrote about love, politics, individual beliefs and “America”.  As, a diplomat, “[he served] as consul in Asia, Europe, and the Americas between 1927 and 1945”.  He leaned towards the left and he openly supported Joseph Stalin, Fulgencio Batista, and Fidel Castro.  In 1945, he was elected senator for Chile’s Communist Party and would later have to flee Chile due to the Communist Party getting sieged. ( http://www.biography.com/people/pablo-neruda-9421737#accomplishments-and-death)

                Jorge Luis Borges, on the contrary, was the complete opposite of Pablo Neruda in terms of their political views.  Borges, like Neruda was an author as well.  Borges was from Argentina and he wrote narratives, poems and essays with themes of metaphysics, dreams, existentialism, guachos and poor neighborhoods.  He supported the military in going against Juan Peron.( http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/b/borges.htm )

                The politics surrounding Neruda and Borges affected their works of literature through several different ways.  Both authors have made works using themes involving politics.  This can be seen explicitly through some of Neruda’s works.  He has made poems to praise Stalin (Canto a Stalingrado) as well poems that honor Batista and Castro.  Another example of how politics explicitly affected literature can be seen in the actions that the governments take. For example, Borges was an anti-Peronista.  Borges had a position as the director of the National library, so when Peron returned from exile in 1973, Borges had to resign.  While it might not seem like it would affect his literature, things like this are what fuel authors stuff to write about. The affects can also be seen implicitly.  Another example is through Borges.  Many people believe that he should have won the Nobel Prize.  Since he was right winged, they did not want to give him the award.  They think that he did not win the award due to his political affiliations. 

                Due to the shifts in government in Latin America, many things including literature were affected.  As shown above through the specific examples from Borges and Neruda, literature was bombarded with many different things that were caused from the political tension that was occurring during the cold war.