Octavio Paz Biography

Authors and Artists for Young Adults on Octavio Paz

Nobel laureate Octavio Paz was a Mexican author who enjoyed a worldwide reputation as a master poet and essayist. Although Mexico figures prominently in Paz's work--one of his best-known books, The Labyrinth of Solitude, for example, is a comprehensive portrait of Mexican society--Los Angeles Times contributor Jascha Kessler called Paz "truly international." World Literature Today's Manuel Duran felt that Paz's "exploration of Mexican existential values permit[ted] him to open a door to an understanding of other countries and other cultures" and thus appeal to readers of diverse backgrounds. "What began as a slow, almost microscopic examination of self and of a single cultural tradition widens unexpectedly," Duran continued, "becoming universal without sacrificing its unique characteristic." That transformation from micro to macro included the growth of his poetry from his first book of poems, Luna silvestre, to the visionary mapping of the past, present, and future of Mexico in the sequence of prose poems Aguila o sol" and the long poem Piedra del sol, the latter of which uses the structure of the Aztec calendar.

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