Ciudad de México (México), 1914 – 1998

By Flávio Aguiar

Essayist and poet, Octavio Paz published more than twenty books in each of these literary genres. Enrique Krauze, with whom he shared leadership of the magazine Vuelta (1976–1998) for some time, defined him as “a man of his century,” not only in the sense that his life spanned almost the entire 20th century but also in the sense that two central themes in his reflection on literature, art, and culture were tradition and rupture. Among his most well-known essay books are El laberinto de la soledad (1950), El arco y la lira (1956, definitive edition in 1959), and Los signos en rotación, which, starting in 1959, began to be integrated into a single volume with the former. His constant concerns were Mexican cultural identity, poetry, and poetic theory. In poetry, he initially engaged with surrealism. He published ¡No pasarán! (1936), Libertad bajo palabra (1955), Ladera Este (1969), the prose-poetry book El mono gramático (1974), among others.

From 1945, he joined the Mexican diplomatic service, serving in France, Japan, and India, where he was ambassador from 1962 to 1968. In that year, he left Mexican diplomacy in protest against the Tlatelolco massacre, when the police shot at an unarmed crowd of students. He did not return to Mexico until three years later, during which time he gave lectures at universities around the world. His book Posdata (1970) was written during this period, reflecting once more on Mexico following the events of Tlatelolco. He founded the magazines Plural (1971–1976) and Vuelta (1976–1998). In 1990, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In 2014, Mexico celebrated the centenary of the poet and essayist with several events. Among them was the exhibition Octavio Paz, una pasión bibliográfica, showcasing early editions of his books. The Shanghai metro in China decorated six carriages with photographs, poems, and thoughts by the Mexican writer.