Octavio Paz is one of the dominant figures of twentieth-century Mexican culture. A prolific poet and essayist, he also edited a number of influential magazines. In 1990 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Paz was born on 31 March 1914 and grew up in genteel poverty in Mixcoac, a small village which was then on the outskirts of Mexico City. His father helped to establish agrarian reform during the Mexican Revolution and represented Emiliano Zapata in the United States. Paz’s own work is defined by a persistent if uneasy engagement with the political left.
Paz attended the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria in Mexico City. Several figures associated with the literary magazine Contemporáneos [Contemporaries] taught there. Contemporáneos introduced Paz to leading Mexican writers of
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Citation: Boll, Tom. "Octavio Paz". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 September 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3512, accessed 19 April 2024.]
