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The final legacy of the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Labyrinth of Solitude

Itinerary records the evolution of the political ideas of Octavio Paz, the great Mexican writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990. It is an intellectual autobiography, in a sense, but also a sentimental and even passionate one. In his thoughts Paz realized the past was inseparable from the present. And so he tells the story of his journey through time, from youth to adulthood. It is not a straight line, nor is it a circle; it is instead a spiral that turns ceaselessly over, bringing into view a time seventy years in the past and the actions of today. It is the final work by a great thinker and a magnificent writer.

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Customer Reviews (3)

"Words Became My Dwelling Place, the Air My Tomb"
Poet Octavio Paz has journeyed across much of the twentieth century landscape in this short book of essays. As a son of La Malinche (see his LABYRINTH OF SOLITUDE), he maintained a clearheaded sense of balance while his contemporaries were losing their heads over communism, surrealism, existentialism, and all the other isms that characterized that time.

What has always amazed me that Paz was at one and the same time both a truthsayer and a poet. Even to someone like myself whose Spanish is less than idiomatic, his poetry possesses a beauty and limpidity that are almost never met in combination. Only Emily Dickinson of the poets I know has this quality. One of my favorites is the poem "Epitafio sobre ninguna piedra" from which the title of this review is taken.

Now that communism is all but extinct, one forgets that only a short while ago it held so many intellectuals in thrall. Looking at our situation today, Paz concludes that "if I am sure of one thing it is that we are living an interregnum; we are walking across a zone whose ground is not solid; its foundations, it basis has evaporated. If we wish to climb free from the marsh and not sink into mud we should quickly work out a morality and a politics." I think that, as a people, we have not. I am reminded of Yeats's "The Second Coming":

The best lack all conviction
While the worst are full of passionate intensity

A final word: Toward the end is a beautiful little essay entitled "Imaginary Gardens: A Memoir" which, while responding negatively to a proposal for a public park, lets loose a Proustian flood of memory regarding the past of the town where Paz was raised, Mixcoac.

This little book, which can be read in a single sitting, deserves a wide readership. I loved it and feel impelled to seek out more of Paz's work.

an intellectual journey of the mind
This is NOT an autobiographical essay, although you might suppose so after the opening story of his exile to California and then later back to Mexico where he was treated as a stranger.This episode serves more as a kernel from which grows his political and social education and experience.Paz briefly traces his political growth from childhood to maturity, through Mexico, the Yucatan (which he points out is so very different from the rest of Mexico), Paris, Spain, India, etc...The editor does his best to provide background history, but be warned that Paz assumes you have the same strong knowledge of Mexican history that he does.I though the highlight was his piercing conclusion about the evil in ourselves, "Evil is human, exclusively human. But not all is evil in humans. Evil nests in their awareness, in their freedom.In there also lies the remedy, the answer to evil... to fight evil is to fight ourselves. And that is the meaning of history."

The writing is clear throughout -- Paz writes well in prose form as well as poetry.A bit hard to follow sometimes, but aren't all intellectual journeys?

PAZitively brilliant...
The agile synthesizing mind at the height of its powers: Skip the 'Labyrinth' and go straight to this. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 ? April 19, 1998) was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature. Paz was born to Octavio Paz Solórzano and Josefina Lozano. His father was an active supporter of the Revolution against the Diaz regime. Paz was raised in the village of Mixcoac, (now a part of Mexico City) by his mother Josefina (daughter of Spanish immigrants), his aunt Amalia Paz, and his paternal grandfather, Ireneo Paz, a liberal intellectual, novelist, publisher and former supporter of President Porfirio Díaz. He studied at Colegio Williams. Because of his family's public support of Emiliano Zapata they were forced into exile after Zapata's assassination. They served their exile in the United States. ... Read more

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FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
The very concept of grammar - a system in which language can be fixed, structured and therefore transformed - is one of the great achievements of Indian culture. In the past 50 years philosophers and linguists havedevoted enormous intellectual energies to the investigation of how theconcept was developed among the thinkers of ancient India, for whom theidea became a central problem in their philosophical tradition. Waslanguage, our faculty for naming objects, given by God or did man inventit, either on his own or with powers borrowed from the divine realm?

Through a species of time-space journey akin to Hanuman's, Octavio Pazexplores this dilemma: ''What is language made of,'' he asks, ''and mostimportant of all, is it already made, or is it something that isperpetually in the making?'' ... Read more

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Esta es la primera antologia de la poesia de Octavio Paz. Parece increible, pero asi es. Estudios criticos los hay en abundancia, selecciones de su poesia, ensayo, estudios criticos, tambi[en. De su poesia, no. Y va a ser dificil superar esta excelente seleccion de Antonio Deltoro. La selecion incluye poemas desde Bajo tu clara sombra (1935-1944) hasta Poemas (1989-1996). El ensayo introductorio de Antonio Deltoro, Vivacidad, es una aportacion sensible e inteligente a la lectura de la obra del gran poeta mexicano. Esta va a ser la antologia que v a dirigir la futura lectura de Paz. ... Read more

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Cincuenta annos de poesia
"Libertad bajo palabra" es una coleccion de textos publicados alo largo de la vida del poeta. Un gran libro. ... Read more

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Exploring poetry through prose
"The Other Voice: Essays on Modern Poetry" is an admirable prose work by Octavio Paz of Mexico. As the book's subtitle indicates, these essays explore various aspects of the world of poetry. The book has been translated from Spanish into a very readable English by Helen Lane.

Paz considers the work and legacies of many poets: Dante, Milton, Whitman, Sor Juana, Eliot, Baudelaire, and others. He questions the concepts of modernity and postmodernity, and considers various interrelated avant-garde literary movements: Futurism, Dadaism, Simultaneism, etc. He also reflects on the relationship between his own poetry and prose writings.

Along the way are some marvelous nuggets, such as his definition of a poem: "a thing made of words, for the purpose of containing and secreting a substance that is impalpable, resistant to definition, and called poetry" (from "The Few and the Many"). The book ends on a prophetic note of hope: ". . . I can say, with a modicum of certainty, that as long as there are people, there will be poetry." I recommend "The Other Voice" to all those interested in Latin American literature or poetry in general. ... Read more

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Vuelta
Este Libro de Octavio Paz, es excelente; aunque a veces nos confunde por el uso de un lenguage que muy pocas personas cononemos, nos lleva a un viaje en donde el hombre se enfrenta a si mismo en una lucha incesante por la busqueda de si mismo, su identidad.Ademas, muestra tambien como un ser humano esta siempre en una lucha incesante por descubrir, por saber, y al final nos pone a pensar, Fue o no Fue?,lo hice o no lo hice? y mientras estamos en esa continua exploracion de ese camino en la que los protagonistas solosomos nosotros mismos, de pronto nos damos cuenta de que nuestra vida no ha dejado de dar vueltas, y nos encontramos en el mismo citio, pero con una idea diferente, anoramos lo pasado, nos da nostalgia, nos hace vivir nuevamente; Asi, paz nos ofrece nuevamente, emprender una nueva "vuelta" a lo que llamamos vida, existencia.

PD,
Disculpe Ud. la gramatica, este sistema no cuenta con los elementos necesarios para hacer una revision gramatical y correcta.

The everyday fire
"Every poem is fire" There are some writters whose work gives light to his time and whose destiny is to survive to his contemporaries. Octavio Paz has been one of them. His poetry knows how to revive in frontof new eyes. In this book the images fly all around. In "Vuelta"the reader find himself and run on the Octavio Paz's birds. ... Read more

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Happy with Essays!
Really enjoyed the book of essays by Octavio Paz,and the quick service and excellent condition of the book...Excellent insight into Mayan Art, the great Muralists,and Modern Art in Mexico.Much thanks!

Convergence of Topics
I read this book recently uponthe death of Octavio Paz. The mans mind was incredible and he was able to elucidate onsuch disparate themes as philosophy,religion and history. What is incredible is that he manages totie these diverse subjects into a major topic, Mexican Art. The Europeaninfluences on the major Mexican artists is indelible and Paz shows how onecannot exist without it's predecessor. He takes shots at such Mexican iconsasDiego Rivera and Frida Kahlo for their seemingly contradictory views.This book is not easy reading and requires a base of knowledge prior toreading. One area of interest is his first person accounts with famouspeople. Paz does not pull any punches and is a straight shooter. Theinsights he provides here are excellent. The expressions he provides areeloquent and given with great detail. A trully brilliant thinker thatoffers his thoughts for all to share and enjoy. This book makes youquestion your knowledge and makes you take the leap into a newunderstanding of what you thought you knew. Like all provacative writerswho influence, you come out the better, as a result of his insights. ... Read more

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Octavio Paz is widely considered one of Mexico's most important literary and cultural figures. He is thought to have captured the complexities of Mexican society and culture as well as any writer in history. Learn more about the 1990 winner of the Nobel Prize for literature.

This title, Octavio Paz, part of Chelsea House Publishers’ Modern Critical Views series, examines the major works of Octavio Paz through full-length critical essays by expert literary critics. In addition, this title features a short biography on Octavio Paz, a chronology of the author’s life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University. ... Read more

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Octavio Pa is one of the most recognied of Latin American writers. His essays offer a sophisticated critique of global modernity. Although his work has advanced many of the arguments that orient our contemporary debates in the social sciences and in philosophy, it has hardly ever been seriously considered within theses disciplines. This volume suggests that this may have been a mistake. Its authors indicate ways in which Pa essays can be read as substantial contributions to contemporary debates in various fields. They aim to present to a non-Spanish speaking audience some of the discussions about Pa offerings to the ongoing debates. The book also wants to make a clear statement: a critique of our contemporary modernity must go hand in hand with a non-exclusive intercultural understanding of Humanism.

Oliver Kolarek teaches political and social philosophy and social theory at the Institute for Philosophical Research at Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo in Mexico and is a visiting professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa in Mexico-City.

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estas páginas se reúne Piedra del sol, poema fundamental de la literatura mexicana contemporánea, con un grupo de textos expresamente seleccionados para esta edición por Octavio Paz, uno de los autores más importantes del siglo XX. ... Read more

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Octavio Paz (1914-1998), the eminent Mexican poet and critic, attempted to evaluate the neglected role of poetry in the twentieth century in terms of a liberating, semi-religious vocation. Jason Wilson, in this study, approaches Paz's poetics through his close relationship with André Breton (1896-1966), the surrealist leader. This is a 'spiritual biography' of a poet-thinker (Paz); a study of a fertile relationship (Paz and Breton); a re-evaluation of surrealism itself and, finally, a coping with those acute problems that all poets and readers of poetry must face in an age lacking an acceptable cultural tradition: why write? What is a poem? Who are the genuine poets? Who am I? Wilson analyses Paz's reaction to these related concerns in the poet's examination of 'the values of poetry' in terms of a liberating poetics. ... Read more