THE CHILEAN POET-Perceptive Take on Poets' Personas by A. Zambra

Poems, short stories and novels are very different literary genres.  Reading poetry or reading fiction is approached and appreciated in different manners.  Alejandro Zambra (b. Chilie 1975) was selected as one of the best "Bogota39" (the best Latin American writers under 39) '2010.  Zambra is highly regarded as a poet, short story writer and novelist.  With keen insight and clever writing, Zambra turns poetry into a central character in "The Chilean Poet."  He wittingly adopts metafiction; the writing about writing in his novels.   Zambra instills an observational narrator who reports on events from the perspectives of several main characters in addition to Gonzalo, an inspiring poet, Carla his young lover whom he reconnects with as an adult, Carla's son Vicente and Prudence 'Pru', an American journalist traveling through Chile interviewing various poets for an American publication.  It can be said (and it was several times in the novel), poetry is Chile's national sport.  Numerous poets were name dropped with no recognition on my part and perhaps for most readers outside S. America, if not Chile.  Gonzalo and Vicente, whom Gonzalo regards more as a son than stepson, both write and read poetry.  There are numerous poems interspersed throughout written by both.  And, they critique other's poetry.  Much of the poetry included is feeble.  Perhaps, intentionally to let other poems resonate more fully with pathos and beauty.  Interestingly,  poetry's value is bantered and challenged.  One of the poets Pru interviewed commented, "Poetry is subversive because it exposes you, tears you apart.  You dare to distrust yourself.  You dare to disobey."  This poet also explained why his poetry is worth publishing.  "I don't know if they're good, but they deserve to live. A lot of people say that poetry is useless. They're afraid of useless things. Everything has to have a purpose.  They hate pure creation, they're in love with corporations. They're afraid of solitude.  They don't know how to be alone."  Diligence is required of the reader to digest the auto-fictional trajectories and the ubiquitous poets, journalists and poetry. However, there are unexpected and refreshing  the pursuit of surgery for Vicente's beloved cat Midnight.  The political background in Chile under communism when Gonzalo was growing up are background fodder laying a foundation for the resurgence of flourishing artistic voices.  I found Zambra's strident voice possessed a pacifying aesthetic and a unique cadence.  Despite being perplexed at times while reading THE CHILEAN POET, I feel rewarded having persisted.  Zambra proffers his simple but cogent thoughts on what happiness is with which I agree. "...happiness is-when you don't feel like you should be somewhere else, or be someone else."  This novel is unlike anything else I've read.  I recommend it highly.