{"product_id":"pablo-nerudas-ship-figureheads-a-poet-collectors-muses-and-companions-9780817362157","title":"Pablo Neruda's Ship Figureheads: A Poet-Collector's Muses and Companions","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eUnlock the stories of Pablo Neruda's rare nineteenth-century carved-wood ship figurehead collection in Chile, why they mattered in his tumultuous life, and how we benefit from them now.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePoet Pablo Neruda's nineteenth-century ship figurehead collection in Chile is one of the most significant in the world. Containing carved wood images of dramatically postured men and women, these figures are now better understood due to years of research, a willingness to challenge Neruda's ever-changing stories about them, and a realization that the names Neruda chose for his figureheads perhaps had more to do with his life than theirs. The rhythm and beauty of Neruda's worn wood figures is counterpoint to his own tumultuous life as an author, politician, and communist dissident.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCollecting ship figureheads was central to Neruda's passion for owning things made of wood, a material he said was his best friend, and for standing out among others as he gradually built the public persona that helped move him toward winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. With his choir of immobilized figureheads stationed upright in his living room and facing the Pacific Ocean, Neruda was surrounded by dramatic images from the sea that ignited his most powerful feelings. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe nineteenth century saw figureheads on the bows of ships of sail and steam, yet when a figurehead was lost or removed, its history soon disappeared. The significant ship figureheads that Neruda avidly collected preserve that history and reveal new dimensions concerning his life and work. Each year, his collection is viewed by thousands of visitors to the Pablo Neruda Foundation's house museum at Isla Negra.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCarol A. Olsen\u003c\/b\u003e is an independent scholar and researcher with decades of experience in art and maritime history. Her work has appeared in the \u003ci\u003eInternational Journal of Nautical Archaeology\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSea History\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University Alabama Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51615412715794,"sku":"9780817362157","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d5c920f4-a772-4498-9960-e651b438b6b5.jpg?v=1758095087","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/pablo-nerudas-ship-figureheads-a-poet-collectors-muses-and-companions-9780817362157","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}