Octavio Paz
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Octavio Paz (Mexico, 1914)
The theme of solitude runs through all his writings. Which is odd if one considers that he was a globetrotter, a citizen of the world, constantly surrounded by people and events. His "solitude" is certainly not "being alone". He was influenced by Surrealism, not by the Soviet intellectuals. He was a very political writer, but different in style from Neruda. His critique of progress sounds very modern in the age of AI. The ideology of progress has been driving humankind for at least two centuries. The West is a program of endless progress for the sake of progress, and also for the sake of establishing the Wests superiority over other civilizations He criticizes the notion that there is only one path for history to follow, that there is a universal straight line Progress pursues its own logic, its own values and its own goals Progress towards what and for what purpose? 1976 Progress is our historical destiny. Claude Lvi-Strauss o el nuevo festn de Esopo (1967) He was born in the middle of the Mexican Revolution and right on the eve of World War I, and experienced the Spanish Civil War, World War II and the Cold War. Our century has been terribleone of the saddest in universal history but the real tragedy is inside us. "Piedra de Sol/ Sunstone" (1957) [p] ++, one of the greatest poems of all time, contains 584 lines, the same number of days that it takes the planet Venus to complete its synodic period, and the first six lines of the poem are also the last ones, creating a cycle that evokes the orbit of a planet. Its a meditation on time and love. Life, death and eternity. The book cover featured the number 585 written according to the Mayan numbering system. Piedra del Sol is the popular name for the Aztec calendar. There are no periods, only commas, semicolons, and colons. "Estrella In Alto" (1956) "La Estacion Violenta" (1958) [p] + "Salamandra" (1962) "Blanco" (1967) [p] ++ is four independent poems. The main theme is the transformation of word from silence to silence. Each of the lateral poems is a poem itself in four parts. The central poem is six loose poems. The way he uses language is unique. His metaphors are architecture, science, beyond poetry. He uses language in a way that blends history, mythology, and philosophy. Few writers have been able to blend the poetic and the analytic dimensions like him (TS Eliot and Borges being the exceptions). Himno entre ruinas (Hymn among the ruins): words which are flowers become fruits which are deeds/ palabras que son flores que son frutos que son actos. The triangle of reality, language and eros, e.g. in Blanco: The word on the top of the tongue unheard unhearable, You are naked like a syllable and Your body spilled on my body seen dissolved brings reality to seeing and If the world is real, the word is unreal. "El Mono Gramatico/ The Monkey Grammarian" (1974), a mix of poetry, narrative and essay ("Renga", for example, is written in four languages) "Pasado en Claro" (1975) [p] + "El Laberinto de la Soledad/ The Labyrinth of Solitude" (1950) [h] is basically a stream of consciousness, a Freudian analysis of the Mexican psyche. Paz argues that there are many different kinds of solitude, many "solitudes". The solitude of a Mexican is not the same solitude of a Northamerican. Solitude, of course, would be the great theme of Gabriel Garcia-Marquez's "Cien Anos de Soledad/ One Hundred Years of Solitude" (1967). Solitude is not a state of mind: it is a labyrinth in which one gets lost and can't find the way out.
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