The Andes: a sanctuary within the horrors of the Industrial Revolution?

That’s a loud title isn’t it! But cool it, this is just my interpretation of what Pablo Neruda may have meant by this beautiful verse of poetry in The Heights of Macchu Picchu. Here is said verse: “What was man? In what layer of his humdrum conversation, among his shops and sirens — in which of his metallic movements lived on imperishably the quality of life?” (Neruda, translated by Tarn, 1966). The use of diction in this verse feels highly meaningful; “humdrum” and “metallic” stick out in particular, invoking the sights, sounds, and feels of industrialism. Neruda is questioning the meaning of life within these industrial senses, as if some intrinsic qualities that ‘life’ owns had been lost within a world of humdrum and metal. This implies that the true aspects of life are found in nature, or in spaces devoid of mankind’s industrialism. I do wonder if Neruda had a more specific, or targeted, aspect of industrialism in mind when he wrote this. Industrialism, while born in Europe, was not solely a Western phenomenon, and plenty of non-Western nations had long begun the humdrum by the time Neruda was writing this. So, is this a more direct critique of Westernism? Perhaps modernity? This interpretation is given more fuel when we consider Neruda as a self-proclaimed spokesperson of Andean Indigeneity. Of course, this is a self-given title that is total bullshit. However, it provides reasoning for this questioning of life’s contemporary quality being an attack against Westernism. Given this interpretation, it means that Neruda is framing Andean Indigeneity as opposite to industrialism (or maybe Westernism). Maybe he’s saying that Indigenous Andes have suffered a drop in the quality of life at the hands of the colonial West, which is symbolized by its industrialized character. Side note; I think I may be using ‘the West’ too loosely, as I’m not sure the Spanish Empire would fall into that category. Many Western nations have exploited and oppressed Indigenous Andeans since conquest, but the Spanish did it too and I don’t wish to generalize. Let me know, please! Anyway, I think that Neruda has a fantastic point, but I worry he is somewhat sensationalizing Andean Indigeneity at the same time, especially given the position from which he writes. His notion of nature’s purity, or being ‘one with nature’, echoes certain Western stereotypes of Indigeneity. Of course, much is true about the relationship between, for example, Indigeneity on the Northwest Coast and nature being far more careful and intentional compared to Western capitalism. But I wonder whether Neruda is crossing the line between appreciation of Indigenous ways and stereotyping them.