Octavio Paz: A Study of his Poetics

Jason Wilson's 'spiritual biography' of a poet-thinker approaches Paz's poetics through his fertile relationship with Andre Breton, the surrealist leader.

Octavio Paz (1914–1998), the eminent Mexican poet and critic, attempted to evaluate the neglected role of poetry in the twentieth century in terms of a liberating, semi-religious vocation. Jason Wilson, in this study, approaches Paz''s poetics through his close relationship with André Breton (1896–1966), the surrealist leader. This is a ''spiritual biography'' of a poet-thinker (Paz); a study of a fertile relationship (Paz and Breton); a re-evaluation of surrealism itself and, finally, a coping with those acute problems that all poets and readers of poetry must face in an age lacking an acceptable cultural tradition: why write? What is a poem? Who are the genuine poets? Who am I? Wilson analyses Paz''s reaction to these related concerns in the poet''s examination of ''the values of poetry'' in terms of a liberating poetics.