“Amo las cosas loca, locamente”
Abstract
This essay analyzes the ambivalent status of objects in Pablo Neruda’s poetry. Drawing on Walter Benjamin’s studies of the paradoxes present in the figure of the collector, it traces the way poetic objects in Neruda’s odes appear simultaneously as treasured possessions and utilitarian agents of revolution. Although the portrayal of everyday objects in his later work has been read as propagandistic, it is in their personal link to the poet as collected objects that Neruda’s objects retain the potential for social change Benjamin outlines in the collector.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Latin American Literature Analysis
Cultural and Social Studies in Latin America
Walter Benjamin Studies Compilation
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Cambridge University Press eBooks
- Pages
- 238–245
- Publication date
- 27 February 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter