The Labyrinth of Solitude - Softcover

Paz, Octavio

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0394179927 ISBN 13: 9780394179926

Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, 1985

Synopsis

As well as the nine essays on his country's psyche and history that make up 'The Labyrinth of Solitude', this highly acclaimed volume also includes 'The Other Mexico', Paz's heartfelt response to the government massacre of over three hundred students in Mexico City in 1968, and 'Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude', in which he discusses his famous work with Claude Fell. The two final essays contain further reflections on the Mexican government.

About this title

Review

First published in 1950, The Labyrinth of Solitude addresses issues that are both seemingly eternal and resoundingly contemporary: the nature of political power in post-conquest Mexico, the relation of Native Americans to Europeans, the ubiquity of official corruption. Noting these matters earned Paz no small amount of trouble from the Mexican leadership, but it also brought him renown as a social critic. Paz, who went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, later voiced his disillusionment with all political systems--as the Mexican proverb has it, "all revolutions degenerate into governments"--but his call for democracy in this book has lately been reverberating throughout Mexico, making it timely once again.

About the Author

Octavio Paz was born in Mexico City in 1914 to a family of Spanish and native Mexican descent. He was the author of more than twenty-five books of poetry and prose. In addition to being a poet, essayist, playwright, social philosopher, and critic, he also served as a Mexican diplomat in France and Japan, and as ambassador to India. He was awarded the Cervantes Award in 1981, the Neustadt Prize in 1982, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990. Octavio Paz died in 1998.

Edition details

• Publisher: Grove/Atlantic
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0394179927
• ISBN 13: 9780394179926
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 398