Octavio Paz (1914-1998)

Octavio Paz is considered as being one of the most prestigious, prominent and controversial poets of Mexico in the second half of the twentieth century. Paz was born in Mexico city in 1914, in midst of the country’s arduous revolutionary battle. His grandfather was a writer and an intellectual who was sympathetic with Porfirio Díaz’s government, and his father was a supporter of the Mexican Revolution.

Spending part of his childhood in the US, he later lived in France and India due to his position as a Mexican diplomatic authority. Paz was the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature in 1990. He died in April 1998 in his city of birth.

An avid writer, Paz first published a book of poetry at the age of 17, and continued writing poetry and essays throughout his life, broaching themes such as sensuality, beauty, the human condition and the individual in a social context.

Some of his most famous Works include:

• Luna Silvestre, 1933 (Wild Moon)
• El laberinto de la soledad
  
• El arco y lira
• Libertad bajo palabra
• Ladera Este
• El mono gramático