Octavio Paz Biography and latest books by Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz was born in 1914 to Octavio Paz Solórzano and Josefina Lozano. He grew up in the care of his mother, aunt, and paternal grandfather, Ireno Paz. Ireno Paz was a liberal intellectual who was also a novelist and publisher and a supporter Emiliano Zapata, a leading member of the Mexican Revolution. He studied at Colegio Williams. The Pazes were forced into exile in the U.S. following Zapata’s murder.

Paz began to develop an interest in Mexican and European literature and he was influenced by D.H Lawrence. He was 19 when he published Luna Silvestre. He began to study law; however he left it half way to work at the Yucatan in a school meant for the children of peasants and workers in Merida.

Paz co-founded Taller, a literary journal and wrote for it until 1941. He married Elena Garro, one of Mexico’s most famous writers. However they divorced. He left to study at the University of California at Berkley after he received a Guggenheim scholarship. After two years at university, he represented Mexico as a diplomat and became Mexico’s ambassador to India. In India he completed writing El mono gramático (The Monkey Grammarian) and Ladera este (Eastern Slope). He also met some Hungry Generation writers and influenced them. His poetry was colored by a blend of Marxism, surrealism, and existentialism.

Paz was upset with the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War and criticized Stalin. He condemned and brought to notice in his magazines Vuelta and Plural, the exploitation of human rights across Latin America. Therefore he became unpopular among the ruling heads of South-American nations.

Paz died in 1998 in Mexico City.