Editing Octavio Paz (section)

==Early life==
Octavio Paz was born near [[Mexico City]]. His family was a prominent [[Liberalism in Mexico|liberal]] political family in Mexico, with [[Spaniards|Spanish]] and [[Indigenous peoples of Mexico|indigenous Mexican]] roots.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Poets|first=Academy of American|title=About Octavio Paz {{!}} Academy of American Poets|url=https://poets.org/poet/octavio-paz|access-date=2020-06-07|website=poets.org}}</ref> His grandfather, [[Ireneo Paz]], the family's patriarch, fought in the [[War of the Reform]] against conservatives, and then became a staunch supporter of liberal war hero [[Porfirio Díaz]] up until just before the 1910 outbreak of the [[Mexican Revolution]]. Ireneo Paz became an intellectual and journalist, starting several newspapers, where he was publisher and printer. Ireneo's son, Octavio Paz Solórzano, supported [[Emiliano Zapata]] during the Revolution, and published an early biography of him and the Zapatista movement. Octavio was named for him, but spent considerable time with his grandfather Ireneo, since his namesake father was active fighting in the Mexican Revolution; his father died in a violent fashion.<ref>[[Enrique Krauze|Krauze, Enrique]]. ''Redeemers: Ideas and Power in Latin America''. New York: Harper Collins 2011, 122–131.{{ISBN|978-0066214733}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2020-06-07|title=Octavio Paz|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/octavio-paz|access-date=2020-06-07|website=Poetry Foundation|language=en}}</ref> The family experienced financial ruin after the Mexican Revolution; they briefly relocated to Los Angeles, before returning to Mexico.<ref name=":1" /> Paz had blue eyes and was often mistaken for a foreigner by other children—according to a biography written by his long-time associate, historian [[Enrique Krauze]], when Zapatista revolutionary [[Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama]] met young Octavio, he said, "''Caramba'', you didn't tell me you had a [[Visigoths|Visigoth]] for a son!" Krauze quotes Paz as saying, "I felt myself Mexican but they wouldn't let me be one."<ref>quoted in Krauze, ''Redeemers'', 137</ref>

Paz was introduced to literature early in his life through the influence of his grandfather Ireneo's library, filled with classic [[Mexican literature|Mexican]] and [[Western literature|European literature]].<ref>[[Guillermo Sheridan]]: ''Poeta con paisaje: ensayos sobre la vida de Octavio Paz''. México: ERA, 2004. p. 27. {{ISBN|968411575X}}</ref> During the 1920s, he discovered [[Gerardo Diego]], [[Juan Ramón Jiménez]], and [[Antonio Machado]]; these Spanish writers had a great influence on his early writings.<ref>[[Jaime Perales Contreras]]: "Octavio Paz y el circulo de la revista Vuelta". Ann Arbor, Michigan: Proquest, 2007. pp. 46–47. UMI Number 3256542</ref>

As a teenager in 1931, Paz published his first poems, including "Cabellera". Two years later, at the age of nineteen, he published ''Luna Silvestre'' (''Wild Moon''), a collection of poems. In 1932, with some friends, he founded his first literary review, ''[[Barandal (magazine)|Barandal]]''.

For a few years, Paz studied law and literature at [[National Autonomous University of Mexico|National University of Mexico]].<ref name=":0" /> During this time, he became familiar with [[Left-wing politics|leftist]] poets, such as Chilean [[Pablo Neruda]].<ref name=":1" /> In 1936, Paz abandoned his law studies, and left Mexico City for [[Yucatán (state)|Yucatán]] to work at a school in [[Mérida, Yucatán|Mérida]]. The school was set up for the sons of [[peasant]]s and workers.<ref>Sheridan: ''Poeta con paisaje'', p. 163</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Quiroga|first1=Jose|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJOqj6Sm2p8C&q=octavio+paz+merida&pg=PA25|title=Understanding Octavio Paz|last2=Hardin|first2=James|date=1999|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|isbn=978-1570032639|language=en}}</ref> There, he began working on the first of his long, ambitious poems, "Entre la piedra y la flor" ("Between the Stone and the Flower," 1941, revised 1976); influenced by the work of [[T. S. Eliot]], it explores the situation of the Mexican peasant under the domineering landlords of the day.<ref>{{cite book |title= Octavio Paz |last= Wilson |first= Jason |year= 1986 |publisher= G. K. Hall |location= Boston }}</ref>

In July 1937 he attended the Second International Writers' Congress—the purpose of which was to discuss the attitude of intellectuals to [[Spanish Civil War|the war in Spain]]—held in [[Valencia]], [[Barcelona]] and [[Madrid]] and attended by many writers, including [[André Malraux]], [[Ernest Hemingway]], [[Stephen Spender]], and [[Pablo Neruda]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Hugh |title=The Spanish Civil War |date=2012 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=978-0141011615 |page=678 |edition=50th Anniversary}}</ref> Paz showed his solidarity with the Republican side, and against the [[fascism|fascists]] led by [[Francisco Franco]] and supported by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. While in Europe he also visited Paris, where he encountered the [[Surrealism|surrealist]] movement, which left a profound impact upon him.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Riding|first=Alan|date=1994-06-11|title=Octavio Paz Goes Looking for His Old Friend Eros|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/11/books/octavio-paz-goes-looking-for-his-old-friend-eros.html|access-date=2020-06-07|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> After his return to Mexico, in 1938 Paz co-funded a literary journal, ''{{ill|Taller (magazine)|lt=Taller|es|Taller (revista)}}'' ("Workshop") and wrote for that magazine until 1941. In 1937 he married [[Elena Garro]], considered to be one of Mexico's finest writers; they had met in 1935. They had one daughter, Helena, and were divorced in 1959.

In 1943, Paz received a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] and used it to study at the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California at Berkeley]] in the United States. Two years later, he entered the Mexican diplomatic service, and was assigned for a time to New York City. In 1945, he was sent to Paris, where he wrote ''[[The Labyrinth of Solitude|El Laberinto de la Soledad]]'' (''The Labyrinth of Solitude'', English translation 1963); ''The New York Times'' later described it as "an analysis of modern Mexico and the Mexican personality in which he described his fellow countrymen as instinctive nihilists who hide behind masks of solitude and ceremoniousness."<ref>{{cite news|title=Octavio Paz, Mexican Poet, Wins Nobel Prize|last= Rule|first=Sheila|work=[[The New York Times]]|location=New York|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/12/books/octavio-paz-mexican-poet-wins-nobel-prize.html|date=October 12, 1990}}</ref> In 1952, he travelled to India for the first time, and that same year went to [[Tokyo|Tōkyō]] as ''[[chargé d'affaires]]''. He next was assigned to [[Geneva]], Switzerland. He returned to Mexico City in 1954, where he wrote his great poem "Piedra de sol" ("Sunstone") in 1957, and published ''Libertad bajo palabra'' (''Liberty under Oath''), a compilation of his poetry up to that time. He was again sent to Paris in 1959, and in 1962, he was named Mexico's ambassador to India.