Octavio Paz Interview Report
Keith Crispin
Author Interview Report: Octavio Paz Octavio Paz was a Mexican poet who is considered to be one of the greatest, from South America of the twentieth century. His love for poetry and literature as a whole started at a young age. It was thanks to his grandfather that he was immerged in literature, for he owned an immense library of six to seven thousand books which Paz had complete access to. He continued expanding his knowledge of poetry at the National Preparatory School and at the University of Mexico where he studied literature, but left this last one before graduating. After leaving Mexico Paz spent nine years abroad, which he considers to be nine months that he spent in the “womb of time”. During these nine years he meet people who influenced his style of writing and was also “reborn” as a writer. When it comes to his political view he was strongly against totalitarianism and considered himself as a man to the left. Now when it comes to other of his works there is influence of Marxism, surrealism, and existentialism throughout it. Something that I found interesting while reading this interview is when Paz spoke of his process of writing. He never really had a certain schedule when it came to it. He would only do it whenever he found the time for it. Also I find it interesting how he would use the rhythm of walking to help him fix his verses. I do a bit of writing myself and I tend to struggle when it comes to make my verses flow, so I am going to see if this helps me with my own projects. When Paz speaks of writing as something he enjoys or struggles with, he says it is a bit of both. In the beginning it is a painful process in which “the sensation of failure is inevitable”, like he would say, “writing is a curse”. It isn’t until the first phrase is written that everything changes and writing becomes into a blessing. Overall this is a very well done interview that I would definitely recommend to a friend or anyone that is
Author Interview Report: Octavio Paz Octavio Paz was a Mexican poet who is considered to be one of the greatest, from South America of the twentieth century. His love for poetry and literature as a whole started at a young age. It was thanks to his grandfather that he was immerged in literature, for he owned an immense library of six to seven thousand books which Paz had complete access to. He continued expanding his knowledge of poetry at the National Preparatory School and at the University of Mexico where he studied literature, but left this last one before graduating. After leaving Mexico Paz spent nine years abroad, which he considers to be nine months that he spent in the “womb of time”. During these nine years he meet people who influenced his style of writing and was also “reborn” as a writer. When it comes to his political view he was strongly against totalitarianism and considered himself as a man to the left. Now when it comes to other of his works there is influence of Marxism, surrealism, and existentialism throughout it. Something that I found interesting while reading this interview is when Paz spoke of his process of writing. He never really had a certain schedule when it came to it. He would only do it whenever he found the time for it. Also I find it interesting how he would use the rhythm of walking to help him fix his verses. I do a bit of writing myself and I tend to struggle when it comes to make my verses flow, so I am going to see if this helps me with my own projects. When Paz speaks of writing as something he enjoys or struggles with, he says it is a bit of both. In the beginning it is a painful process in which “the sensation of failure is inevitable”, like he would say, “writing is a curse”. It isn’t until the first phrase is written that everything changes and writing becomes into a blessing. Overall this is a very well done interview that I would definitely recommend to a friend or anyone that is