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The Labyrinth of Solitude: The Other Mexico, Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude, Mexico and the United States, the Philanthropic Ogre
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Manufacturer: Grove Press
Author: Octavio Paz
Publisher: Grove Press
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Our Price: $11.60
You Save: $ 2.90 ( 20% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Grove Press
Author: Octavio Paz
Publisher: Grove Press
Average Customer Rating:
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The Labyrinth of Solitude: The Other Mexico, Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude, Mexico and the United States, the Philanthropic Ogre Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.0896872
EAN: 9780802150424
ISBN: 080215042X
Label: Grove Press
Manufacturer: Grove Press
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 398
Publication Date: 1994-01-12
Publisher: Grove Press
Studio: Grove Press
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.0896872
EAN: 9780802150424
ISBN: 080215042X
Label: Grove Press
Manufacturer: Grove Press
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 398
Publication Date: 1994-01-12
Publisher: Grove Press
Studio: Grove Press
Editorial Review of The Labyrinth of Solitude: The Other Mexico, Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude, Mexico and the United States, the Philanthropic Ogre
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.
Customer Reviews of The Labyrinth of Solitude: The Other Mexico, Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude, Mexico and the United States, the Philanthropic Ogre
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A man of electric intelligence
Review: Octavio Paz was a spirit who united an originality of vision with an intellectual rigor; a poet and political essayist deeply read in Western/Eastern thought as he was in the philosophical traditions (indispensable for knowledge). His razor-sharp mind immediately captured my attention with his witticisms, his irreverent reflections, his arbitrary opinions, his culture, and his valiant, insolent sincerity. This is the first of various books of caustic and penetrating essays of his country and fellow countrymen. Perhaps is too prolix for a foreigner who is not interested in all the details of Mexican politics, nonetheless it contains remarkable passages that illuminate the history of modern Mexico with another light, crueler but more real. Some of his passages are like the corridors of a lavish, sinister, and endless dream. This is somehow his philosophical and moral testament that is both moving and makes us reflect.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Classic text but badly outdated
Review: Prior reviewer Scott Henson is correct, this book does not adequately reflect modern Mexico of the 1990's to present. Some elements of Mexican character as described by Paz remain true, but generally this book does not describe modern middle class Mexicans very well at all, who, while still small as a class, are nevertheless very Western in their general lives.
Reading this now without an actual awareness of life in today's Mexico, you would think that the country is still populated by stoic indigenous peoples at the mercy of fates they don't understand.
While that is true for some sectors of the population, the country has become as modern as many European countries. In fact, Modern Mexico reminds me of post WWII Italy in so many ways. One foot in the future and one foot in the past, and struggling to keep their balance.
Try reading this book and then watching Y tu mama tambien or solo con tu pareja to see the differences, as well as the continuities, with Paz' essay...
Worth a read, but no longer so relevant as it was once. And don't be fooled into thinking that this is the Mexico you will find upon visiting.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Interesting Book
Review: The writing in this book is a bit thick and meandering, but it does give some interesting insight into a culture many Americans have a hard time understanding at a time when we need to understand the most. If you can handle the frequent revisiting of the same topics throughout the essays, you will learn quite a bit.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Well Done, Octavio Paz!
Review: Looking at this book through a young American male, undergraduate student, double-majoring in Integrated Social Studies (Education) and History's eyes, this book was challenging to read. However, as I once read recently in an education text, "if anything is odd, inappropriate, confusing, or boring, it's probably important" (Developing Readers and Writers in the Content Areas: K-12/Moore, Moore, Cunningham, and Cunningham, 2003, p. 28).
I am currently in a Latin American history class, and decided to read this book for an assignment. Not having a background in this area made reading some sections difficult and dare I say, boring (important)! However, I enjoyed reading the original book "The Labyrinth of Solitude" and his "Mexico and the United States" essay.
Some aspects that sparked my interest in particular in "The Labyrinth of Solitude" include his discussion of the following: the characteristics of Mexican men and women in comparison to their American counterparts, democracy, socialism, the Mexican economy in the late 1960s, love, and wealth in relation to birth.
The other section that captured my interest was his prose comparing the U.S. and Mexico. In this work, Paz writes about several of the major general differences between the U.S. and Mexico, including the subjects of religion, history, economics, their different ties with European countries, language, and the men/women of the two countries.
Hence, looking at The Labyrinth of Solitude and Other Writings from an American viewpoint, there appears to be much of interest for the reader to learn about not only American culture and possibly some things wrong with it, but why Mexicans act the way they do and is their society as big of a mess as it seems from the outside looking in?
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Magisterial, profound and provocative
Review: Like all great books, Paz' exploration of the Mexican soul begins with concrete historical and cultural detail and exfoliates into something complex, profound and ultimately moving.
Paz sets his book at the junction where historical experience, ritual, myth, the Mexican sense of interior solitude, Mexico's European, Maya and Aztec roots, and its incredible legacy of art and writing intersect. The book-- in gleaming prose-- describes Mexico from both personal and historical points of view. His thesis is that, despite much of its horrific historical baggage and the mess that its twentieth-century governments made of it, Mexican culture understands that North American materialism and individualism are "nightmares reflected in the torture chambers of reason." Paz' eye, of course, is critical-- Mexico is here as scrutinised as its northern neighbour-- but his book shows that underneath what often appears to observers as a macho and weirdly tacky culture there is a powerful and enduring old wisdom.
This is a remarkable book-- a great intro to Mexican culture for those who've read the historical basics.
Review Summary: A man of electric intelligence
Review: Octavio Paz was a spirit who united an originality of vision with an intellectual rigor; a poet and political essayist deeply read in Western/Eastern thought as he was in the philosophical traditions (indispensable for knowledge). His razor-sharp mind immediately captured my attention with his witticisms, his irreverent reflections, his arbitrary opinions, his culture, and his valiant, insolent sincerity. This is the first of various books of caustic and penetrating essays of his country and fellow countrymen. Perhaps is too prolix for a foreigner who is not interested in all the details of Mexican politics, nonetheless it contains remarkable passages that illuminate the history of modern Mexico with another light, crueler but more real. Some of his passages are like the corridors of a lavish, sinister, and endless dream. This is somehow his philosophical and moral testament that is both moving and makes us reflect.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Classic text but badly outdated
Review: Prior reviewer Scott Henson is correct, this book does not adequately reflect modern Mexico of the 1990's to present. Some elements of Mexican character as described by Paz remain true, but generally this book does not describe modern middle class Mexicans very well at all, who, while still small as a class, are nevertheless very Western in their general lives.
Reading this now without an actual awareness of life in today's Mexico, you would think that the country is still populated by stoic indigenous peoples at the mercy of fates they don't understand.
While that is true for some sectors of the population, the country has become as modern as many European countries. In fact, Modern Mexico reminds me of post WWII Italy in so many ways. One foot in the future and one foot in the past, and struggling to keep their balance.
Try reading this book and then watching Y tu mama tambien or solo con tu pareja to see the differences, as well as the continuities, with Paz' essay...
Worth a read, but no longer so relevant as it was once. And don't be fooled into thinking that this is the Mexico you will find upon visiting.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Interesting Book
Review: The writing in this book is a bit thick and meandering, but it does give some interesting insight into a culture many Americans have a hard time understanding at a time when we need to understand the most. If you can handle the frequent revisiting of the same topics throughout the essays, you will learn quite a bit.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Well Done, Octavio Paz!
Review: Looking at this book through a young American male, undergraduate student, double-majoring in Integrated Social Studies (Education) and History's eyes, this book was challenging to read. However, as I once read recently in an education text, "if anything is odd, inappropriate, confusing, or boring, it's probably important" (Developing Readers and Writers in the Content Areas: K-12/Moore, Moore, Cunningham, and Cunningham, 2003, p. 28).
I am currently in a Latin American history class, and decided to read this book for an assignment. Not having a background in this area made reading some sections difficult and dare I say, boring (important)! However, I enjoyed reading the original book "The Labyrinth of Solitude" and his "Mexico and the United States" essay.
Some aspects that sparked my interest in particular in "The Labyrinth of Solitude" include his discussion of the following: the characteristics of Mexican men and women in comparison to their American counterparts, democracy, socialism, the Mexican economy in the late 1960s, love, and wealth in relation to birth.
The other section that captured my interest was his prose comparing the U.S. and Mexico. In this work, Paz writes about several of the major general differences between the U.S. and Mexico, including the subjects of religion, history, economics, their different ties with European countries, language, and the men/women of the two countries.
Hence, looking at The Labyrinth of Solitude and Other Writings from an American viewpoint, there appears to be much of interest for the reader to learn about not only American culture and possibly some things wrong with it, but why Mexicans act the way they do and is their society as big of a mess as it seems from the outside looking in?
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Magisterial, profound and provocative
Review: Like all great books, Paz' exploration of the Mexican soul begins with concrete historical and cultural detail and exfoliates into something complex, profound and ultimately moving.
Paz sets his book at the junction where historical experience, ritual, myth, the Mexican sense of interior solitude, Mexico's European, Maya and Aztec roots, and its incredible legacy of art and writing intersect. The book-- in gleaming prose-- describes Mexico from both personal and historical points of view. His thesis is that, despite much of its horrific historical baggage and the mess that its twentieth-century governments made of it, Mexican culture understands that North American materialism and individualism are "nightmares reflected in the torture chambers of reason." Paz' eye, of course, is critical-- Mexico is here as scrutinised as its northern neighbour-- but his book shows that underneath what often appears to observers as a macho and weirdly tacky culture there is a powerful and enduring old wisdom.
This is a remarkable book-- a great intro to Mexican culture for those who've read the historical basics.