Octavio Paz

Lore & Background

Paz spent much of his childhood with his grandfather, whose library introduced him to classic Mexican and European literature. The family experienced financial ruin after the Revolution and briefly relocated to Los Angeles. As a teenager, Paz published his first poems in 1931 and founded the literary review Barandal in 1932. He studied law and literature at National University of Mexico but abandoned his studies in 1936 to work at a school in Yucatán for the sons of peasants and workers. In 1965, he married Marie-José Tramini. He resigned from the diplomatic service in 1968 in protest of the Mexican government's massacre of student demonstrators in Tlatelolco.

Reader's Guide

Octavio Paz's significance lies in his profound exploration of Mexican identity and the human condition through poetry and essays. His poetry, influenced by Marxism, surrealism, existentialism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, includes the acclaimed poem 'Sunstone' (1957), praised as a magnificent example of surrealist poetry. Paz's later poetry dealt with love, eroticism, time, and Buddhism, and he also wrote about modern painting. As an essayist, he covered topics such as Mexican politics, Aztec art, anthropology, and sexuality. The critic Ramón Xirau noted that Paz's poetry leads into the realm of silence where true language lives.

Did You Know?

• Paz had blue eyes and was often mistaken for a foreigner by other children; a Zapatista revolutionary called him a 'Visigoth.'
• He founded his first literary review, Barandal, at age 18 in 1932.
• He resigned from the Mexican diplomatic service in 1968 in protest of the government's massacre of student demonstrators in Tlatelolco.
• His poem 'Sunstone' was praised as a 'magnificent' example of surrealist poetry in the Nobel Prize presentation speech.