Customer Reviews

The Labyrinth of Solitude: The Other Mexico, Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude, Mexico and the United States, the Philanthropic Ogre

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No other book has been able to accurately describe the Mexican psyche as Paz has done in this book. His eloquent prose style captivates the Mexican spirit in all its grace and in all its sadness. He brings all of Mexico's conflicts and taboos together and strips off all its masks to reveal the Mexican. I found his style to be poetic, eloquent, and majestic. Never had I read a book as powerfull and truthfull as Paz's. It is no wonder Paz was honored to receive the Nobel prize for this work. Any individual willing to read this book will finish it understanding Mexican culture and history better.

Paz's 'Labyrinth of Solitude' describes a Mexico of days gone by. 21st-century Mexico is dramatically more urban and modern, on the whole, than when Paz wrote this 50+ years ago.

Published in 1950, this was a book of its time. The Grove Press English translation is first rate; it reads beautifully.
Paz despised communism but was unimpressed with American materialism and narcissism, which in any event he thought inapplicable en masse to the Mexican character (as he piercingly described it) that drew so heavily on indigenous roots. He thought Mexico could find a third way, and he chose to start his search for it by heeding the millenia-old Socratic charge: know thyself. The result was a book one critic called an insult to every Mexican mother, though in truth it's nothing of the sort. His polemic made him no friends in the short term, however, even as it became an instant classic and catapulted him among the pinnacle stars of 20th century Latin American cultural critics.

Great to read while traveling, but good to keep in mind it's dated 5 decades. He's not describing the Mexican world a decade after NAFTA! His collected poems are worth the cost of admission, too.

I first read this book in the early 70's and enjoyed it immensely. Being od Mexican descent it gave me insight into who I am and why. I have read this book again recently, upon Paz's death, and found it still as enlightening. The style of writng is beautiful, poetic , and full of symbolism and metaphors. While working in education I highly recommended it to my collegues to better understand the Mexican psyche. Anyone who works in the public sector or deals with Mexicans on either side of the border should read this book. It will help you understand the mind of the Mexican and how it works. One of my all time favorite books that should be enjoyed by all people interested in human behavior.

Like all great books, Paz' exploration of the Mexican soul begins with concrete historical and cultural detail and exfoliates into something complex, profound and ultimately moving.

Paz sets his book at the junction where historical experience, ritual, myth, the Mexican sense of interior solitude, Mexico's European, Maya and Aztec roots, and its incredible legacy of art and writing intersect. The book-- in gleaming prose-- describes Mexico from both personal and historical points of view. His thesis is that, despite much of its horrific historical baggage and the mess that its twentieth-century governments made of it, Mexican culture understands that North American materialism and individualism are "nightmares reflected in the torture chambers of reason." Paz' eye, of course, is critical-- Mexico is here as scrutinised as its northern neighbour-- but his book shows that underneath what often appears to observers as a macho and weirdly tacky culture there is a powerful and enduring old wisdom.

This is a remarkable book-- a great intro to Mexican culture for those who've read the historical basics.

Some say that when this masterpiece appeared in Mexico it was perceived as a mexican offending his own country, many censured Paz ideas:the birth of criticism and freedom of speech was taking place in Mexico.Since those years (the 50's), this radiography hasn't change a lot and this book has become a truly must read book. Its like a pre guide tour of one of the most mysterious countries in the world.Paz wrote about mexicans masks and inner faces. His sensual poetic prose dances with intelligence and beauty.

I wonderful book that examines the political and human level of Mexico and its deep rooted history. Most people think of chaos in reference to this great country, I suggest you read this beautiful book to understand the complex structure of Mexico.

The writing in this book is a bit thick and meandering, but it does give some interesting insight into a culture many Americans have a hard time understanding at a time when we need to understand the most. If you can handle the frequent revisiting of the same topics throughout the essays, you will learn quite a bit.

I found this book full of sensibility and wisdom toward mexicans, their culture and periods, and search for identity. The author describes Mexico- past and present- with realism, criticism, and love. If someone wants to know why Mexico is like it is,the evolution of its ideas and its hidden differences with the United Estates, this is a great book !

The following review pertains only to the original 1950 essay: The Labyrinth of Solitude.

The reviewers Bo K and Lynn Hoffman are fully correct in qualifying the present practical sociological usefulness of Paz's original essay as it pertains in general to the modern, well educated, global minded urban middle class and cultural elite of Mexico itself. And it most certainly is at best only part of the story in understanding the Mexican with poor or traditional roots who has migrated to the USA and has been acculturated by prolonged, willing exposure to mainstream American life and culture.

But it still has relevance in understanding the many Mexicans in Mexico today who live more traditional lives, and who are shaped by the dynamics Paz originally described in 1950 that still live on today. And since so many of these Mexicans have migrated north and live among us with little fundamental change in mentality from what they were in Mexico, this book has value if we want to understand the mind of the Mexican who probably cooks our meals, picks up our trash, mows our lawns, cares for our children, and so forth. And if our educational system fails to make a profound impression on their children, it will likely still describe part of the mentality of some US citizens too. And what will likely shape the remaining part?: probably the streets.

This is a beautifully wrought attempt to unearth and examine some of the deep differences between Mexican and Anglo-American cultures. When I first read it-and before I went to Mexico or knew many Mexicans-it seemed like this was the undiscovered key to understanding Mexico.
In some ways, it still is a valuable tool for interpreting Mexican public culture. What Paz calls 'the Mexican's willingness to contemplate horror' is still very much on display. Paz' description of Mexican language in The Sons of La Malinche' and his meditation on retributive justice in 'The Day of the Dead' are classics of anthropology, poetry and maybe even social science fiction.
More seriously, the moment in time-the post-revolutionary, pre-electronic decades from which Paz is speaking-is gone. Mexico has a substantial middle class that is connected to the world and whose view of things has undergone a profound transformation. The bourgeoisie that Paz so actively despised has won the day.
In fact, this sort of cultural summing up, attractive as it may be, has always stumbled on the disorderly facts of the multiplicity of individual lives.
So: read this and prize it for the insights it may give into this grand thing called Mexican Civilization, but don't be disappointed when the Mexico you meet rarely corresponds.

Lynn Hoffman, author of bang BANG