Una araña regalona

I don't know if serendipity really does exist, but books about Chile or Chileans just happen to turn up in my life. Especially lately. This doesn't happen with books about Ecuador, Laos, or Tanzania, it just happens with Chile. Fate must be moonlighting on my personal case.

As I was shelving books the other day, I came across this thin book I had ordered and never actually read. This happened a few minutes before I was breaking for lunch, so I decided to eat and read a few pages and save the rest for after work. Four stories later, I was glued and had to force myself to stop and finish the book as soon as I had a break. What a charming little book!

As a starter, Poli Délano narrates a few memories from his childhood as it connects with Pablo Neruda. But the book doesn't really do that, it goes beyond a narrative of encounters with Neruda. We get to see the poet and his wife through the eyes of a child, wrapped up with a good dose of tenderness, wonder, and sheer fun. This is the kind of book, simple as it is, that makes me love my first language and my culture. Somehow, try as I might, I have not been able to feel the same way reading a book in English.

The thin little book has become a great little interlude in my re-visiting of Confieso que he vivido (Neruda's memoirs). As I go back to the memoirs and read about his university years, I can't wait to read about Delia, his wife, or Hormiguita, as she was fondly called by some. Somehow I have forgotten everything I read about her on my first reading of the memoirs.

By the way, Policarpo y el tío Pablo has a funny story (among other hilarious stories) titled Una araña regalona. Here the author recalls what happened when a walking stick was placed in a box that contained Renata, a tarantula owned by Neruda's wife. Although I knew what the outcome of the match would be, I was thrilled to find out that Neruda's wife (Delia) had a pet tarantula! Later today as I went back to Confieso que he vivido, I read that he too kept a tarantula when he was a child. For a tarantula lover, this is great news, and to celebrate, I have changed my newest tarantula's name from Shirley to Renata, in honor of the poet and his wife's spider.