The Other Voice: Essays on Modern Poetry [Paperback]

Octavio Paz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1992

In seven elegant essays that range across centuries and literatures, Paz offers his thoughts on how modern poetry came to be, what makes it “modern,” and what it may become. Translated by Helen Lane.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In these seven essays, written from 1976 to 1989 and first collected in Spanish in 1990, Nobel Prize-winner and outstanding Mexican poet and critic Paz continues the ideas set forth in his earlier political theory works, The Bow and the Lyre ( LJ 2/1/74) and especially Children of the Mire ( LJ 6/15/74). Embracing a universal body of literature, this poetic manifesto defends the social, civic, and political function of poetry in present-day society: "If human beings forget poetry, they will forget themselves." As the noblest of the arts, poetry is ecumenical ("the visions of a presence that reconciles the two halves of the globe") and permanent ("Technology changes but the arts endure"). Fascinating, absorbing pieces by an ardent apologist for poetry. Highly recommended.
- Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC, Dub lin, Ohio
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Much here is a reiteration of ideas and points Paz has made before more freshly--about the disastrous modernist penchant for utopian revolution, about the term ``post-modern'' (``merely a naive way of saying that we are extremely modern'') and about the fraternal, ahistorical force of poetry. The summarizing tone may stem from a few of these essays having been given as speeches and lectures. Paz is shrewd but Olympian in these pieces, proved correct by the collapse of Eastern European Marxism yet not quite happy with it--or sure about what literary culture will find itself grappling with, once these false gods all are totally cleared away. Thus, interestingly, a large part of the focus here is not on poetry itself but on its epiphenomena: the academy (``Literary criticism becomes an exercise in investigating secrets, in the vein not so much of Sherlock Holmes as of Torquemada and State Prosecutor Vishinsky''), the publishing industry, the audience. About all these he is intelligent but also occasionally vague and generalizing, professing a willed optimism of art while everywhere referring to the seemingly inexorable decay of literature. Not as strong or thought-provoking as other Paz collections- -and more provisional. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (September 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156704552
• ISBN-13: 978-0156704557
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exploring poetry through prose, July 20, 2001

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Other Voice: Essays on Modern Poetry (Paperback)

"The Other Voice: Essays on Modern Poetry" is an admirable prose work by Octavio Paz of Mexico. As the book's subtitle indicates, these essays explore various aspects of the world of poetry. The book has been translated from Spanish into a very readable English by Helen Lane.

Paz considers the work and legacies of many poets: Dante, Milton, Whitman, Sor Juana, Eliot, Baudelaire, and others. He questions the concepts of modernity and postmodernity, and considers various interrelated avant-garde literary movements: Futurism, Dadaism, Simultaneism, etc. He also reflects on the relationship between his own poetry and prose writings.

Along the way are some marvelous nuggets, such as his definition of a poem: "a thing made of words, for the purpose of containing and secreting a substance that is impalpable, resistant to definition, and called poetry" (from "The Few and the Many"). The book ends on a prophetic note of hope: ". . . I can say, with a modicum of certainty, that as long as there are people, there will be poetry." I recommend "The Other Voice" to all those interested in Latin American literature or poetry in general.