The presentation, "Neruda, Dejame Cantar por Ti" ("Neruda, Let Me Sing For You"), is a Spanish-language presentation by Franklin Caicedo, one of the most prestigious teachers of acting in the Spanish-speaking world.

It will take place in the Screening Room in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students. The poems, anecdotes and recollections that comprise the solo performance will be simultaneously translated into English by Irving Feldman, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the UB Department of English.

The performance is sponsored by the Faculty of Arts and Letters, with the support of the Centro Latinoamericano de Investigacion y Creacion Teatral (C.E.L.C.I.T.), the Department of Theatre and Dance, the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and the Melodia Jones Chair in French (Raymond Federman).

Neruda, who ranks among the greatest poets in any language, is noted in particular for the freshness and inventiveness of the language through which he expressed a range of erotic, openly autobiographical and political themes.

Neruda was focal point of the Academy- Award-nominated motion picture, Il Postino, which deals with a shy small-town mail carrier and his unlikely friendship with the poet. The film, which earned five nominations, won an Oscar for its original dramatic musical score.

A devout communist, Neruda had become one of the best-known Chilean poets by the age of 20 and as a young man enjoyed several years as a consular representative of his nation in Latin America, Europe and Asia. These were years rich in poetic development and marked by his friendships with Garcia Lorca and other Spanish poets who publicly recognized the distinction of his work.

The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the execution of Lorca and the onslaught of World War II matured Neruda's poetry and his political attitudes, which in turn expanded his fame. When he returned home in 1943, he received a tremendous welcome from every country along the Pacific coast. He became a Chilean senator and served his country politically for the rest of his life.

His poetry, which speaks to the kinds of changes every person experiences throughout a lifetime, has been translated into virtually every language. Among his most lyrical works are early poems like Crepusculario and Viente poemas de amor y una canci÷n desesperada. Later works of a more spiritual nature include Tentaviva del hombre infinito and El hondero entusiasta. One of his most important books, Residencia en la tierra, explores the domain of the inner self. In it, he demonstrated for the first time his highly personalized poetic technique that became known as nerudismo. In his poetry, Neruda explored a wide range of subjects and styles that include highly personal love poetry, accusatory poems of social and political criticism, and imposing epics.

Neruda was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, two years before his death, which occurred one week after the assassination of his friend Salvadore Allende, president of Chile. He continues to be revered not only for the impact he made on his own country's literary life, but as one of the greatest poets of this century, a man who produced a courageous and beautiful body of work enriched by his passion, depth and nuance.

Franklin Caicedo has produced and appeared in theatrical productions since he was a child in Northern Chile. He studied at Santiago's School of the Performing Arts, joined the University of Chile's Experimental Theater company and later became a theater professor at the university. He attained national stardom through his appearance in Marat/Sade and later as Estragon in Waiting for Godot. In 1969 Caicedo relocated to Argentina, where he joined Buenos Aires' most distinguished theater ensemble. He directs his own theater school in Buenos Aires.