Melville House Books

A visit to the former home of Pablo Neruda by US First Lady Laura Bush has angered some in Chile, who considered it “a sleight [sic] to his Communist past.” As an Agence France Press wire story explains, the Nobel laureate, who died in 1973 just days after the murder and overthrow of Salvador Allende, was also a senior member of Chile’s Communist party. Bush’s spokesman “brushed aside the complaint” and insisted she was visitng the house “because of his work as a writer.” But the head of the country’s Communist Party, Juan Andres Lagos, says the visit is “an offense, not just to us but to the people of this country, the intelligensia and the workers. It is extremely serious, too, that it was organized by the Chilean government.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.