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Octavio Paz

The Labyrinth of Solitude: The Other Mexico, Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude, Mexico and the United States, the Philanthropic Ogre (Winner of the Nobel Prize) Paperback – January 12, 1994

by Octavio Paz (Author)

257 ratings

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Octavio Paz has long been acknowledged as Mexico's foremost writer and critic. In this international classic, Paz has written one of the most enduring and powerful works ever created on Mexico and its people, character, and culture. Compared to Ortega y Gasset's The Revolt of the Masses for its trenchant analysis, this collection contains his most famous work, "The Labyrinth of Solitude," a beautifully written and deeply felt discourse on Mexico's quest for identity that gives us an unequaled look at the country hidden behind "the mask." Also included are "The Other Mexico," "Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude," "Mexico and the United States," and "The Philanthropic Ogre," all of which develop the themes of the title essay and extend his penetrating commentary to the United States and Latin America.

Print length

398 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Grove Press
Publication date

January 12, 1994
Dimensions

5.3 x 1.2 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

080215042X
ISBN-13

978-0802150424
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com 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.

Review

Praise for The Labyrinth of Solitude:

“The Labyrinth of Solitude is essential to an understanding of [Mexico] and, by extension, Latin America and the third world.” —The Village Voice

“The most celebrated volume by Mexico’s greatest man of letters.” —The Boston Globe

“Octavio Paz is an even better essayist than he is a poet. His evocation of Mexican character and culture is, in fact, devoted to the real world, and it produces an astonishing image of a whole nation, truer than the profound truth it reveals for presenting them in a mythos made entirely beautiful. Written in a lucid, rich prose, The Labyrinth of Solitude is Paz’s poetic masterpiece.” —Commonweal

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grove Press; Later Printing Used edition (January 12, 1994)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 398 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 080215042X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802150424
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.3 x 1.2 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #36,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10 in Caribbean & Latin American Literature
- #14 in Mexico History
- #16 in Central America History

Customer Reviews:
257 ratings

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5 star		81%
4 star		9%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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TANSTAAFL

Insightful Cultural Analysis, Engaging Stories, English Translation Could Be Better

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2019

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Octavio Paz's insights and engaging narrative are superb. If you want to understand Mexican cultural identity as juxtaposed to that of the USA, this is essential reading, and there is nothing else like it. Like any important work, I found there were numerous points of agreement and disagreement as I read; this kind of book is meant to challenge preconceptions and cause the reader to think.

I am less enthusiastic about Lysander Kemp's translation, which seems stilted at times and gets in the way of understanding as much as it helps. It feels almost transliterative, with long, run-on sentences and multiple levels of subordinate clauses. It may be faithful to the original Spanish construction, but is somewhat hard to digest in English. A less-literal, more idea-based approach would be helpful - or read it in the original, if you can.

16 people found this helpful

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''Desire to return to chaos rises incessantly. There is much to defend, and the faithful are much needed.'' (26)

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2017

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''The captive Elements and the ancient
Laws of the Earth break loose
Like maddened horses. And then a desire to return
To chaos rises incessantly. There is much
To defend, and the faithful are much needed.''
- Hölderlin (26)

Laws need 'faithful defenders'. Chaos does not.

''The faithful are much needed because there is ''much to defend''. . . . But exile, expiation and penitence should proceed from the reconciliation of man with the Universe. Neither the Mexican nor the North American has achieved this reconciliation.'' (26)

Paz is here expressing religio/philosophical ideas. These are not ecomonic/political concerns. Takes some adjusting.

Great!

''What is even more serious, I am afraid we have lost our sense of the very meaning of all human activity, which is to assure the operation of an order in which knowledge and innocence, man and nature are in harmony. If the solitude of the Mexican is like a stagnant pool, that of the North American is like a mirror.'' (27)

Mirror only reflects what is already there. Can't give anything more.

Paz consistently provides comparison; Mexican/American, etc.,etc.. Effective teaching method.

''We have ceased to be springs of living water.'' (27)

(Probably Biblical reference to Jeremiah's warning to apostate Jews . . .
‘Because my people have done two bad things:
They have abandoned me,
the source of living water,
And dug for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns, that cannot hold water.’)

Paz received Nobel prize for this work. Comes from deep within his soul. Heartfelt, insightful, torn from anguish and love.

Astounding!

Chapters -

The Pachuco and other extremes
Mexican Masks
The Day of the Dead
The Sons of La Malinche
The conquest and Colonialism
From independence to the revolution
The Mexican Intelligentsia
The present day
The Dialectic of Solitude

Paz starts with a psychological/philosophical explanation of the Mexican mind. For example . . .

''Past epochs never vanish completely, and blood drips from all their wounds, even the most ancient. Sometimes the most remote or hostile beliefs and feelings are found together in one city or one soul, or are superimposed like those pre-Cortesian pyramids that always conceal others.'' (12)

Paz then adds a fascinating footnote . . .

''In our history there are many examples of this superimposition: the neofeudalism of the Porfirio Díaz regime, using positivism to justify itself historicaly; Antonio Caso and José Vasconcelos, the intellectual initiators of the revolution, using the ideas of Boutroux and Bergson to combat positivism; socialist education in a country at least incipiently capitalist. These apparent contradictions all demand a new examination of our history and also our culture.'' (12)

Think of the breadth of reading and depth of insight revealed in this paragraph!

This work includes the essay - ''Mexico and the United States''. . .

''In 1917 the October revolution in Russia kindled the hopes of millions' in 1979, the word ''gulag'' has become synonymous with Soviet socialism. The founders of the socialist movement firmly believed would put an end not only to the exploitation of men but to war' in the second half of the twentieth century, totalitarian ''socialism'' have enslaved the working class by stripping it of its basic rights. . . . The ideological wars of the twentieth century are no less ferocious than the wars of religion of the seventeenth century.'' (374)

Many scholars have now made the same connection.

''When I was young, the idea that we were witnessing the final crisis of capitalism was fashionable among intellectuals. Now we understand that the crisis is not of a socioeconomic system but that of our whole civilization.'' (374)

‘Crisis of civilization’! Who can doubt it?

''The sickness of the west is moral rather than social and economic. . . . But the real, most profound discord lies in the soul. The future has become the realm of horror, and the present has turned into a desert.'' (374)

‘Moral sickness’! Why?

''The empty place left by Christianity in the modern soul is filled not by philosophy but by the crudest superstitions.'' (375)

What ‘crude superstitions’? Well . . . nationalism, racism, materialism, scientism; i.e. - ‘worship of abstract nouns’.

This edition has no bibliography or index.

(See also, ''Portrait of Mexico'', by Diego Rivera/Bertram Wolfe; ''The Revolt of the Masses'' by Jóse Ortega y Gasset. Fascinating!)

10 people found this helpful

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Brian F. Redman

Superb Interpretation of Mexico

Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2021

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I cannot praise this book enough, though I realize there must be other interpretations of Mexico. Octavio Paz, Nobel Prize-winner, perceives an Aztec archetype operating behind the changing masks of power in Mexico, be they Hernan Cortez, Porfirio Diaz, or the current el presidente. The Mexicans are not exactly Hispanic, nor are they Latino. Instead the population is a mixture of pure-blooded Spaniards, mixed Indian and Spaniard (Mestizos), and indigenous ("Indians" so-called). The latter have for centuries adapted themselves to various rulers by blending into the scenery - as Paz puts it about transplanted Mexicanos, they are both here and not here, simultaneously. It is not so much therefore that they are "living in the shadows" as that this has become over the centuries their traditional way of adapting. Written with the keen insight of a poet, Paz's book will give you a "crash course" on what is Mexico.

One person found this helpful

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Dan

This is my second reading of this classic Mexican look ...

Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2017

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This is my second reading of this classic Mexican look at Mexicans (and some Mexican Americans) of the 60's. I just wonder how Dr. Paz would respond to the current political and social climate toward Mexicans and Mexican Americans in America. What Dr. Paz does is remind us that we are all human and that our similarities far outweigh our differences. He also reminds us to not judge the many (or the group) based on the behavior of the few. When I hear people criticize Americans, I remind them of that. The number (percentage) of honorable and respectable Americans far exceeds the few deplorable ones.

12 people found this helpful

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LaurentG

Collosal book on history, social, and international relations of Mexico

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2014

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This book is priceless. It is about Mexican history in the context of American Continents and the world. It is a book of analysis of how Mexico emerged as the country it is today (or 1970 as that was the time the book was completed, by adding new chapters to previous ones written even before that) and its place in the world and its relationship with US. It is not a book for the masses, but once started it flows. I found it easy to read because Octavio Paz presents ideas in a very clear manner.
Like Alexander Solzhenitzin, Octavio Paz writes books for the ages, explaining history and social issues in a very direct, open, critical way. I am not Mexican. This book is a must read by anybody who wants to understand the "whys" of our times.

7 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A classic. ALmost lyrical prose. But viewed in ...

Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2017

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A classic. ALmost lyrical prose. But viewed in hindsight, (written years before Fannon, Memi, Kendi) riddled with flawed ideas, steeped in assimilationist & colonial assumptions. Self loathing for a Mexican author.

4 people found this helpful

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Απoκρυφτ

This is such an amazing book. It was on my list to read ...

Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2018

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This is such an amazing book. It was on my list to read for many years. When I bought it to read, when it had arrived my daughter she grasped it and used for word history class. That is worked for her too. if you want to understand Mexican sense this is the book for!

5 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Obri Gonzalez

Most Insightful Book Ever!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 29, 2020

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I've always wanted to read about my own culture, and having moved overseas I've wanted to return to some Mexicanese of some sorts, and this has definitely allowed me to reflect on the culture I was born into and at the same time question a lot of my current beliefs.

Dave Bassett

Great book

Reviewed in Canada on January 4, 2021

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Work of art

Paul

Paz

Reviewed in Canada on August 16, 2015

Verified Purchase

Incisive!

Herodotus

Stimulating, sometimes difficult, for me.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2015

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Working my way rather slowly, but pleasantly, through stimulating (and sometimes difficult) Spanish.

layla

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 15, 2015

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excellent

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