Octavio Paz: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Mexican writer, poet and diplomat (1914–1998)}}

| name = Octavio Paz

| spouse = [[Elena Garro]]{{Plainlist|

'''Octavio Paz Lozano'''{{efn|Spanish pronunciation: {{IPA-es|okˈtaβjooɣˈtaβjo pas loˈsano|}}, <small>{{Audio|Octavio Paz.ogg|audio}}</small>.}} (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 [[Jerusalem Prize]], the 1981 [[Miguel de Cervantes Prize]], the 1982 [[Neustadt International Prize for Literature]], and the 1990 [[1990 Nobel Prize in Literature]].

Octavio Paz was born near [[Mexico City]]. His family was a prominent [[Liberalism in Mexico|liberal]] political family in Mexico,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Foundation|first=Poetry|date=2020-06-07|title=Octavio Paz|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/octavio-paz|access-date=2020-06-07|website=Poetry Foundation|language=en}}</ref> with [[Spaniards|Spanish]] and [[Indigenous peoples of Mexico|indigenous Mexican]] roots.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Poets|first=Academy of American|title=About Octavio Paz {{!}} Academy of American Poets|url=https://poets.org/poet/octavio-paz|access-date=2020-06-07|website=poets.org}}</ref> His fathergrandfather, had[[Ireneo beenPaz]], anthe assistantfamily's topatriarch, fought in the [[EmilianoWar Zapataof the Reform]]. Theagainst familyconservatives, experiencedand financialthen ruinbecame aftera staunch supporter of liberal war hero [[Porfirio Díaz]] up until just before the 1910 outbreak of the [[Mexican Revolution]]. Ireneo Paz became an intellectual and thejournalist, exilestarting ofseveral newspapers, where he was publisher and printer. Ireneo's son, Octavio Paz Solórzano, supported [[LiberationEmiliano ArmyZapata]] during the Revolution, and published an early biography of him and the SouthZapatista movement. Octavio was named for him, but spent considerable time with his grandfather Ireneo, since his namesake father was active fighting in the Mexican Revolution; his father died in a violent fashion.<ref>[[Enrique Krauze|ZapataKrauze, supportersEnrique]]. (known''Redeemers: asIdeas and Power in Latin Zapatistas)America''. New York: Harper Collins 2011, 122–131.{{ISBN|978-0066214733}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2020-06-07|title=Octavio Paz|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/octavio-paz|access-date=2020-06-07|website=Poetry Foundation|language=en}}</ref> The family experienced financial ruin after the Mexican Revolution; they briefly relocated to Los Angeles, before returning to Mexico.<ref name=":1" /> Paz had blue eyes and was often mistaken for a foreigner by other children—according to a biography written by his long-time associate, historian [[Enrique Krauze]], when Zapatista revolutionary [[Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama]] met young Octavio, he said, "''Caramba'', you didn't tell me you had a [[Visigoths|Visigoth]] for a son!" Krauze quotes Paz as saying, "I felt myself Mexican but they wouldn't let me be one."<ref>quoted in Krauze, ''Redeemers'', 137</ref>

Paz was introduced to literature early in his life through the influence of his grandfather Ireneo's library, filled with classic [[Mexican literature|Mexican]] and [[Western literature|European literature]].<ref>[[Guillermo Sheridan]]: ''Poeta con paisaje: ensayos sobre la vida de Octavio Paz''. México: ERA, 2004. p. 27. {{ISBN|968411575X}}</ref> During the 1920s, he discovered [[Gerardo Diego]], [[Juan Ramón Jiménez]], and [[Antonio Machado]].; Thesethese Spanish writers had a great influence on his early writings.<ref>[[Jaime Perales Contreras]]: "Octavio Paz y el circulo de la revista Vuelta". Ann Arbor, Michigan: Proquest, 2007. pp.46&ndash;47 46–47. UMI Number 3256542</ref>

As a teenager in 1931, Paz published his first poems, including "Cabellera". Two years later, at the age of 19nineteen, he published ''Luna Silvestre'' ("''Wild Moon"''), a collection of poems. In 1932, with some friends, he funded his first literary review, ''Barandal''.

For a few years, Paz studied law and literature at [[National Autonomous University of Mexico|National University of Mexico]].<ref name=":0" /> During this time, he became familiar with [[Left-wing politics|leftist]] poets, such as Chilean [[Pablo Neruda]].<ref name=":1" /> In 1936, Paz abandoned his law studies, and left Mexico City for [[Yucatán (state)|Yucatán]] to work at a school in [[Mérida, Yucatán|Mérida]]. The school was set up for the sons of [[peasant]]s and workers.<ref>Sheridan: ''Poeta con paisaje'', p. 163</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Quiroga|first1=Jose|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJOqj6Sm2p8C&q=octavio+paz+merida&pg=PA25|title=Understanding Octavio Paz|last2=Hardin|first2=James|date=1999|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|isbn=978-1-57003-263-91570032639|language=en}}</ref> There, he began working on the first of his long, ambitious poems, "Entre la piedra y la flor" ("Between the Stone and the Flower,") (1941, revised in 1976).; Influencedinfluenced by the work of [[T. S. Eliot]], it explores the situation of the Mexican peasant under the domineering landlords of the day.<ref>{{cite book |title= Octavio Paz |last= Wilson |first= Jason |year= 1986 |publisher= G. K. Hall |location= Boston }}</ref>

In July 1937 he attended the Second International Writers' Congress, theCongress—the purpose of which was to discuss the attitude of intellectuals to [[Spanish Civil War|the war in Spain, held]]—held in [[Valencia]], [[Barcelona]] and [[Madrid]] and attended by many writers, including [[André Malraux]], [[Ernest Hemingway]], [[Stephen Spender]], and [[Pablo Neruda]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Hugh |title=The Spanish Civil War |date=2012 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=978-0-141-01161-50141011615 |page=678 |edition=50th Anniversary}}</ref> Paz showed his solidarity with the Republican side, and against the [[fascism|fascists]]. Heled alsoby visited[[Francisco ParisFranco]] whileand supported by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. While in Europe. Therehe also visited Paris, where he encountered the [[Surrealism|surrealist]] movement, which left a profound impact upon him.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Riding|first=Alan|date=1994-06-11|title=Octavio Paz Goes Looking for His Old Friend Eros|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/11/books/octavio-paz-goes-looking-for-his-old-friend-eros.html|access-date=2020-06-07|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> After his return to Mexico, in 1938 Paz co-funded a literary journal, ''Taller'' ("''Workshop"'') in 1938, and wrote for thethat magazine until 1941. In 1937 he married [[Elena Garro]], whoconsidered isto consideredbe one of Mexico's finest writers.; Theythey had met in 1935. They had one daughter, Helena, and were divorced in 1959.

In 1943, Paz received a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] and used it to study at the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California at Berkeley]] in the United States. Two years later, he entered the Mexican diplomatic service, and was assigned for a time to New York City. In 1945, he was sent to Paris, where he wrote ''[[The Labyrinth of Solitude|El Laberinto de la Soledad]]'' ("''The Labyrinth of Solitude"'', English translation 1963).; ''The New York Times'' later described it as "an analysis of modern Mexico and the Mexican personality in which he described his fellow countrymen as instinctive nihilists who hide behind masks of solitude and ceremoniousness."<ref>{{cite news|title=Octavio Paz, Mexican Poet, Wins Nobel Prize|last= Rule|first=Sheila|work=[[The New York Times]]|location=New York|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/12/books/octavio-paz-mexican-poet-wins-nobel-prize.html|date=October 12, 1990}}</ref> In 1952, he travelled to India for the first time., Thatand that same year, he went to [[Tokyo,|Tōkyō]] as ''[[chargé d'affaires]]''. He next was assigned to [[Geneva]], Switzerland. He returned to Mexico City in 1954, where he wrote his great poem "Piedra de sol" ("Sunstone") in 1957, and published ''Libertad bajo palabra'' (''Liberty under Oath''), a compilation of his poetry up to that time. He was sent again sent to Paris in 1959., Inand in 1962, he was named Mexico's ambassador to India.

In 1965, he married Marie-José Tramini, a French woman who would be his wife for the rest of his life. That fall in 1965, he went to [[Cornell University]] and taught two courses, one in Spanish and onethe other in English. TheEnglish—the magazine ''LIFE en Español'' published a piece, illustrated with several pictures, about his staytenure at Cornellthere in their July 4, 1966 issue. ThereHe are several pictures in the article. After this hesubsequently returned to Mexico. In 1968, he resigned from the diplomatic service in protest of the Mexican government's [[Tlatelolco massacre|massacre of student demonstrators in Tlatelolco]].<ref>Preface to ''The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz: 1957–1987'' by Eliot Weignberger</ref>

"The poetry of Octavio Paz"," wrote the critic [[Ramón Xirau]], "does not hesitate between language and silence; it leads into the realm of silence where true language lives."<ref>Xirau, Ramón (2004) ''Entre La Poesia y El Conocimiento: Antologia de Ensayos Criticos Sobre Poetas y Poesia Iberoamericanos''. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica p. 219.</ref>

His later poetry dealt with love and eroticism, the nature of time, and Buddhism. He also wrote poetry about his other passion, modern painting, dedicating poems to the work of [[Balthus]], [[Joan Miró]], [[Marcel Duchamp]], [[Antoni Tàpies]], [[Robert Rauschenberg]], and [[Roberto Matta]]. As an essayist, Paz wrote on topics such as [[Politics of Mexico|Mexican politics]] and [[Economy of Mexico|economics]], [[Pre-Columbian art|Aztec art]], [[anthropology]], and [[Human sexuality|sexuality]]. His book-length essay, ''[[The Labyrinth of Solitude]]'' (Spanish: ''El laberinto de la soledad''), delves into the minds of his countrymen, describing them as hidden behind masks of solitude.; Duedue to their [[History of Mexico|history]], their identity is lost between a pre-Columbian and a Spanish culture, negating either. A key work in understanding [[Culture of Mexico|Mexican culture]], itthe essay greatly influenced other Mexican writers, such as [[Carlos Fuentes]]. Ilan Stavans wrote that hePaz was "the quintessential surveyor, a [[Dante]]'s Virgil, a Renaissance man".<ref>{{cite book

Paz wrote the play ''La hija de Rappaccini'' in 1956. The plot centers around a young Italian student who wanders about Professor Rappaccini's beautiful gardens, where he spiesespies the professor's daughter, Beatrice. He is horrified to discover the poisonous nature of the garden's beauty. Paz adapted the play from an 1844 short story by American writer [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]], which was also entitled "[[Rappaccini's Daughter]]".; Hehe combined Hawthorne's story with sources from the Indian poet [[Vishakadatta]] and influences from Japanese [[Noh]] theatre, Spanish ''[[autos sacramentales]]'', and the poetry of [[William Butler Yeats]]. The play's opening performance was designed by the Mexican painter [[Leonora Carrington]]. In 1972, Surrealist author [[André Pieyre de Mandiargues]] translated the play into French as ''La fille de Rappaccini '' (Editions Mercure de France). First performed in English in 1996 at the [[Gate Theatre]] in London, the play was translated and directed by [[Sebastian Doggart]] and starred [[Sarah Alexander]] as Beatrice. The Mexican composer Daniel Catán adapted the play as an opera in 1992.

Paz's other works translated into English include several volumes of essays, some of the more prominent of which are ''Alternating Current'' (tr. 1973), ''Configurations'' (tr. 1971), in the [[UNESCO Collection of Representative Works]],<ref>[http://www.unesco.org/culture/lit/rep/pop.php?fnc=record&lng=en_GB&record=5821 Configurations], Historical Collection: UNESCO Culture Sector, [[UNESCO]] official website</ref> ''[[The Labyrinth of Solitude]]'' (tr. 1963), ''The Other Mexico'' (tr. 1972); and ''El Arco y la Lira'' (1956; tr. ''The Bow and the Lyre'', 1973). In the United States, [[Helen Lane]]'s translation of ''Alternating Current'' won a [[National Book Award]].<ref name=nba1974>

Along with these are volumes of critical studies and biographies, including of [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] and [[Marcel Duchamp]] (both, tr. 1970), and ''The Traps of Faith'', an analytical biography of [[Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz]], the Mexican, 17thseventeenth-century nun, [[List of feminist poets|feminist poet]], mathematician, and thinker.

HisPaz's works include the poetry collections ''¿Águila o sol?'' (1951), ''La Estación Violenta'', (1956), ''Piedra de Sol'' (1957). In English, ''Early Poems: 1935–1955'' (tr. 1974) and ''Collected Poems, 1957–1987'' (1987) have been edited and translated by [[Eliot Weinberger]], who is Paz's principal translator into American English.

[[File:II_Congreso_internacional_de_escritores_para_la_defensa_de_la_culturaII Congreso internacional de escritores para la defensa de la cultura,_1937 1937.jpg|thumb|left|250px|II International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture.]]

In his magazines ''Plural'' and ''Vuelta'', Paz exposed the [[Human rights|violations of human rights]] in communistCommunist regimes, including [[Fidel Castro|Castro's]] [[Cuba]]. This brought himelicited much animosity from sectors of the Latin American left.Left: Inin the prologue to Volume IX of his complete works, Paz stated that from the time when he abandoned communistCommunist dogma, the mistrust of many in the Mexican [[intelligentsia]] started to transform into an intense and open enmity. Paz continued to consider himself a man of the left, theleft—the democratic, "liberal" left, not the dogmatic and illiberal one. He also criticized the Mexican government and leading party that dominated the nation for most of the 20thtwentieth century.

Politically, Paz was a [[social democracy|social democrat]], who became increasingly supportive of liberal ideas without ever renouncing to his initial leftist and romantic views. In fact, Paz was "very slippery for anyone thinking in rigid ideological categories," Yvon Grenier wrote in his book on Paz's political thought. "Paz was simultaneously a romantic who spurned materialism and reason, a liberal who championed freedom and democracy, a conservative who respected tradition, and a socialist who lamented the withering of fraternity and equality. An advocate of fundamental transformation in the way we see ourselves and modern society, Paz was also a promoter of incremental change, not revolution."<ref>Yvon Grenier, ''From Art to Politics: Octavio Paz and the Pursuit of Freedom'' (Rowman and Littlefield, 1991); Spanish trans. ''Del arte a la política, Octavio Paz y la busquedad de la libertad'' (Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1994).</ref>

{{quoteblockquote|There can be no society without poetry, but society can never be realized as poetry, it is never poetic. Sometimes the two terms seek to break apart. They cannot.|Octavio Paz<ref>{{cite book

In 1990, during the aftermath of the [[Fall of the Berlin Wall|fall of the Berlin wall]], Paz and his ''Vuelta'' colleagues invited several of the world's writers and intellectuals to Mexico City to discuss the collapse of communism.Communism; Writerswriters included [[Czesław Miłosz]], [[Hugh Thomas (writer)|Hugh Thomas]], [[Daniel Bell]], [[Ágnes Heller]], [[Cornelius Castoriadis]], [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]], [[Jean-François Revel]], [[Michael Ignatieff]], [[Mario Vargas Llosa]], [[Jorge Edwards]] and [[Carlos Franqui]]. The encounter was called ''The experienceExperience of freedomFreedom'' (Spanish: ''La experiencia de la libertad''), and broadcast on Mexican television from 27 August to 2 September.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.letraslibres.com/revista/convivio/memorias-del-encuentro-la-experiencia-de-la-libertad |title=Memorias del encuentro: "La experiencia de la libertad" |author=Christopher Domínguez Michael |date=November 2009 |work=Letras Libres (in Spanish)| access-date=July 10, 2013}}</ref>

To measure fairly the effect of the Spanish in Mexico, one must emphasize that without them—that is, without the Catholic religion and the culture the Spanish implanted in our country—we would not be what we are. We would probably be a collection of peoples divided by different beliefs, languages, and cultures."|author=|title=}}Paz criticized the [[Zapatista uprising]] in 1994.<ref>Huffschmid (2004) pp127-151pp. 127–151</ref> He spoke broadly in favor of a "military solution" to the uprising of January 1994, and hoped that the "army would soon restore order in the region". With respect to President Zedillo's offensive in February 1995, he signed an open letter that described the offensive as a "legitimate government action" to reestablishre-establish the "sovereignty of the nation" and to bring "[[Chiapas]] peace and Mexicans tranquility".<ref>Huffschmid (2004) p145</ref>

Paz was dazzled by ''[[The Waste Land]]'' by [[T. S. Eliot]], in Enrique Munguia's translation as ''El Páramo'' which was published in the magazine ''Contemporaries'' in 1930. As a result of this, although he maintained his primary interest in poetry, hePaz also had an unavoidable outlook on prose: "Literally, this dual practice was for me a game of reflections between poetry and prose".

Worried about confirming the existence of a link between [[morals]] and [[poetry]], in 1931, at the age of 16sixteen, he wrote what would be his first published article, "Ethics of the Artist", wherein which he plantedposed the question aboutof the duty of an artist among what would be deemed "art of thesis," or pure art, which disqualifies the second as a result of the teaching of tradition. Assimilating aEmploying language that resembles a religious style and, paradoxically, a [[Marxism|Marxist]] styleone, Paz finds the true value of art in its purpose and meaning, for which, the followers of pure art,art—of ofwhom whichhe heis ''s not'' one, areone—are found in an isolated position and favor the [[Kantianism|Kantian]] idea of the "man that loses all relation with the world".<ref>{{Cite book|last= Paz|first= Octavio|title= Primeras letras (1931–1943)|year= 1988|publisher= Vuelta|page= 114}}</ref>

The magazine ''Barandal'' appeared in August 1931, put together by [[Rafael López Malo]], Salvador Toscano, [[Arnulfo Martínez Lavalle]] and Octavio Paz.; Allall of them were not yet in their youth, except for Salvador Toscano, who was a renowned writer thanks to his parents. Rafael López participated in the magazine, "Modern" and, as wellalong aswith [[Miguel D. Martínez Rendón]], in the [[movimiento de los agoristas]], although it was more commented on and known by the high -school students, over all for his poem, "''The Golden Beast''". Octavio Paz Solórzano became known in his circle as the occasional author of literary narratives that appeared in the Sunday newspaper add-in [[El Universal (México)|El Universal]], as well as [[Ireneo Paz]] which was the name that gave a street in [[Mixcoac]] identity.

* [[Prix Alexis de Tocqueville]], Prize1989,

==List of worksWorks==

===Essays and Analysisanalysis===

* 1974: ''The Monkey Grammarian'' (''El mono gramático''); translated into English by [[Helen Lane]])

* [https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-4329/ Consuelo Hernández, Enrico Santí on Octavio Paz. Recorded at the Library of Congress for the Hispanic Division’s video literary archive. 2005]

* [https://www.loc.gov/item/93842718 Octavio Paz Corral recorded at the Library of Congress for the Hispanic Division’s audio literary archive on March 23-2423–24, 1961]

[[Category:Mexican magazine editors]]

[[Category:MaleMexican male essayists]]