Octavio Paz - Definition and Overview

Octavio Paz (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican writer and diplomat.

Paz was born in Mexico City. In 1945, he entered the Mexican diplomatic service, and worked in France until 1962. He was encouraged to write by a young Pablo Neruda, who was working in the Chilean diplomatic service at the time. During his time in France, Paz published what is perhaps his most famous work, El Laberinto de la Soledad or The Labyrinth of Solitude, an exploration of Mexican and Latin American identity. He fought for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War.

Paz was appointed ambassador to India in 1962, but resigned in 1968 to protest the Tlatelolco massacre.

His work was influenced by surrealism. Paz collaborated with Breton Peret and Benjamin Peret on various projects while in France.

He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1990. He died in 1998.

External links

• Nobel museum biography (http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1990/paz-bio.html)