Del océano al verso. Las caracolas de Pablo Neruda

Between Seashells and Verses: A Revision of Neruda’s Collections From the Present Daniela Lehto C. 5 "Thousands of tiny undersea doors opened for me to dip into, from the day Don Carlos de la Torre, the noted Cuban malacologist, gave me the best specimens from his collection. Since then I have crossed the seven seas, wherever my travels took me, stalking and hunting down shells." Pablo Neruda, Memoirs T o reflect on the nature of a collection it’s an invitation to comprehend the act of treasuring objects as an action that goes beyond material appropriation. Collecting shines a light on cultural expressions, desires and personal curiosities, connecting with the past in which these objects are inscribed, and creating a bond with present and future aspirations from a symbolic dimension. Implicitly or explicitly, collectors seek to build a representation of their being through fragments of the world that, if they fail to reunite them to be cared for or admired, may be destined to disappear. 6 When one thinks about Neruda’s collections, it’s natural to wonder if objects such as seashells can become a gateway to deepen our knowledge of the poet’s literary imagination. Celina Manzoni [5] Daniela Lehto C. (1991- ) has a bachelor's degree in History (2021) by Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello and a master’s degree (c) in History by the same university. She works as a cultural mediator in the area of education in Universidad de Chile’s Archivo Central Andrés Bello and Sala Museo Gabriela Mistral. [6] Walter Benjamin. El coleccionismo (Ediciones Godot, 2002), 11-12. 60 universidad de chile