Malva Marina Reyes

 Malva Marina Reyes was the daughter of the famous poet Pablo Neruda, whose real name was Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto. She was born with a condition called hydrocephalus, which caused her head to grow larger than normal. Sadly, Neruda abandoned her because of her illness. The poet, known for writing the most beautiful and romantic verses, cruelly referred to his daughter as “Full stop” (because of the size of her head compared to her body), “Three-pound vampire,” and “Ridiculous being.” Malva passed away in poverty at the young age of 8, and her father did not even attend her funeral.

Pablo Neruda, often praised as a beloved poet and a voice of the political left, had a daughter, Malva Marina. She died in Holland at just 8 years old, abandoned by her father, who rejected her because of her condition. This is often seen as an example of the double standards of many admired figures.

Malva was born on August 18, 1934, in Madrid, where Neruda was working as a Consul General. But for Neruda, having a daughter with a disability was not something he wanted or expected.

Around the same time, in June 1934, Neruda published his famous work Residence on Earth and fell in love with Delia del Carril, an Argentine woman who was part of the French Communist Party. Delia was much younger than him. Just two months later, in August, his wife Maryka gave birth to Malva.

When Malva was born, Neruda wrote to a friend, Sara Tornú, describing his daughter in cruel words. He called her “a perfectly ridiculous being, a kind of point and comma, a three-kilogram vampire.” On November 8, 1934, Neruda left Maryka and Malva, choosing to live with Delia instead.

Neruda and Delia moved to Paris, leaving Maryka and Malva behind. This marked the start of a terrible abandonment, which many of Neruda’s friends in the literary community and the Chilean Communist Party helped hide for years.

After being left alone, Maryka moved to The Hague in the Netherlands. She found a church nursery that took in Malva, where a kind couple, Hendrik Julsing and Gerdina Sierks, cared for her. Despite Maryka’s desperate letters, Neruda refused to send even $100 a month to support his daughter.

Maryka worked odd jobs and lived in cheap lodgings to care for Malva. She wrote to Neruda, begging for money to feed their child, saying, “I will spend my last penny sending this letter.” Sadly, Malva passed away on March 2, 1943, in the city of Gouda. She was just 8 years old.

During World War II, Neruda could have helped Maryka and Malva escape Europe, which was going through unimaginable hardships. But he chose not to.

Malva’s story is missing from Neruda’s memoirs, and he never wrote a single poem for her. Yet, in one of his poems, “I Sing to the Mothers of Dead Militiamen,” he pretends to care about struggling mothers—a sharp contrast to how he treated Maryka and Malva in real life.