Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz, (1914- ). Mexican poet, writer, and diplomat. Paz was born and educated in. Mexico City. As a young man, his Marxist views led him to fight on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. His earlier poetry, published in the 1930s and 1940s, shows the influence of surrealism. Later work, such as the famous long poem Piedro del sol (Sun Stone; 1957), is more meta-‘ physical and reflective. Paz’s work as a diplomat included postings in France and Japan and a period as Mexico’s ambassador to India (1962-68). He has also written various critical and other prose works, notably The Labyrinth of Solitude (1950). The appearance of his Collected Poems (1989) was followed by the award of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1990.
