Del océano al verso. Las caracolas de Pablo Neruda

on malacology 11 and conchiliology 12 that make up the Bibliographical Section of the collection. In this sense, he started using scientific names in his poetry, as we can observe in the poem "Gongorine Mollusca", published in Canto General . One of the most iconic pieces in the collection and one that reflects his sociability networks is a medium-sized seashell with the name of Charonia tritonis (Linnaeus, 1758). The reason for its importance is that it contains an inscription written by the Spanish poet Rafael Alberti (1902-1999). This great author of the Silver Age of Spanish literature was a good friend of Neruda, someone who shared his social, cultural and political interests. It’s also possible to find a small box with Chinese sacred symbols containing a seashell with the name of Thatcheria mirabilis (Angas, 1877), a piece gifted to the poet by chairman Mao Tse-Tung himself during a trip to China in 1952. This species is a treasure in itself, because it lives in the deepest parts of the Western Pacific Ocean, between Japan and Philippines, and is very hard to find. To Neruda, the Thatcheria mirabilis was valuable because of its great complexity and because of the beauty of its architectonic patterns: "And thus I was able to own that remarkable work of art in which the ocean gave China the style for temples and pagodas that still survives in those latitudes". 13 [11] Malacology is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of mollusks, covering their biology, anatomy, ecology, species classification, evolution, and dis- tribution. [12] Conchiliology is a subdiscipline of malacology, one focused on the analy- sis and study of mollusc shells. [13] Pablo Neruda, Memoirs, 273. 72 universidad de chile