1914: Octavio Paz - Resources and General Discussion
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1StevenTX
Today (March 31) is Octavio Paz's 100th birthday. My local newspaper carried a piece on the Editorial page about why he is considered Mexico's most important writer.
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20140330-why-octavio-paz-is-sti...
Here is a more political perspective on his legacy from the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/opinion/the-wars-of-octavio-paz.html?hp&rr...
2StevenTX
The Labyrinth of Solitude and Other Writings by Octavio Paz
Essays first published 1950 to 1979
English translations by Lysander Kemp, Yara Milos and Rachel Phillips Belash
Octavio Paz is considered Mexico's most important modern poet, but his best-known work--at least in English translation--is this collection of essays. "The Labyrinth of Solitude," first published in 1950, was an multi-part essay examining the Mexican national character. The other, later essays in the collection expand on that theme. "The Other Mexico" looks at the Aztec component of Mexican culture. "Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude" is an interview in which he reassesses his original work. "Mexico and the United States" contrasts Mexico's culture and world view with that of its neighbor to the north (a subject prominent as well in "The Labyrinth of Solitude"). And "The Philanthropic Ogre" looks at Mexico's unique single-party system of government.
The root of Mexico's unique identity, according to Paz, is a synthesis of Spanish Catholic forms with a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican world view. Mexico, he says, is the "most Indian" of Latin American nations. "In the Valley of Mexico man feels himself suspended between heaven and earth, and he oscillates between contrary powers and forces, and petrified eyes, and devouring mouths. Reality -- that is the world that surrounds us -- exists by itself here, has a life of its own, and was not invented by man as it was in the United States." There are a number of other ways in which the author contrasts Mexico (communal, fatalistic, collectivist) with the United States (Puritanical, individualistic, self-assured). One of the best examples of contrast is seen in the fact that the North American spends his money acquiring personal possessions, while the Mexican spends his on public fiestas.
Paz also contrasts Mexico with the other countries of Latin America. Mexico, he says (writing in 1969), "lives in a post-revolutionary period while the majority of the other Latin American countries are going through a pre-revolutionary stage." This observation has certainly proven true, as nearly every Latin American nation has, since that time, undergone violent civil wars or military dictatorships. Mexico's (at that time) single-party system of government is unique, according to Paz, in that it is a structure of power without an ideology. While Mexico has political violence and corruption, it has avoided terror; public expression is unimpeded as long as it does not directly threaten the ruling party. This freedom has made Mexico City a haven for decades for refugee intellectuals from Europe and Latin America.
The Labyrinth of Solitude is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in Mexican history and culture, but Paz's observations have a wider relevancy. His outsider's view of American culture, for example, is very interesting. And his description of Mexico's single-party post-revolutionary state of the 1970s has many parallels in today's post-Maoist single-party China.
Essays first published 1950 to 1979
English translations by Lysander Kemp, Yara Milos and Rachel Phillips Belash
Octavio Paz is considered Mexico's most important modern poet, but his best-known work--at least in English translation--is this collection of essays. "The Labyrinth of Solitude," first published in 1950, was an multi-part essay examining the Mexican national character. The other, later essays in the collection expand on that theme. "The Other Mexico" looks at the Aztec component of Mexican culture. "Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude" is an interview in which he reassesses his original work. "Mexico and the United States" contrasts Mexico's culture and world view with that of its neighbor to the north (a subject prominent as well in "The Labyrinth of Solitude"). And "The Philanthropic Ogre" looks at Mexico's unique single-party system of government.
The root of Mexico's unique identity, according to Paz, is a synthesis of Spanish Catholic forms with a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican world view. Mexico, he says, is the "most Indian" of Latin American nations. "In the Valley of Mexico man feels himself suspended between heaven and earth, and he oscillates between contrary powers and forces, and petrified eyes, and devouring mouths. Reality -- that is the world that surrounds us -- exists by itself here, has a life of its own, and was not invented by man as it was in the United States." There are a number of other ways in which the author contrasts Mexico (communal, fatalistic, collectivist) with the United States (Puritanical, individualistic, self-assured). One of the best examples of contrast is seen in the fact that the North American spends his money acquiring personal possessions, while the Mexican spends his on public fiestas.
Paz also contrasts Mexico with the other countries of Latin America. Mexico, he says (writing in 1969), "lives in a post-revolutionary period while the majority of the other Latin American countries are going through a pre-revolutionary stage." This observation has certainly proven true, as nearly every Latin American nation has, since that time, undergone violent civil wars or military dictatorships. Mexico's (at that time) single-party system of government is unique, according to Paz, in that it is a structure of power without an ideology. While Mexico has political violence and corruption, it has avoided terror; public expression is unimpeded as long as it does not directly threaten the ruling party. This freedom has made Mexico City a haven for decades for refugee intellectuals from Europe and Latin America.
The Labyrinth of Solitude is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in Mexican history and culture, but Paz's observations have a wider relevancy. His outsider's view of American culture, for example, is very interesting. And his description of Mexico's single-party post-revolutionary state of the 1970s has many parallels in today's post-Maoist single-party China.
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