ON POETS AND OTHERS

De: OCTAVIO PAZ

 
Sección: otros idiomas » english

EAN: 9781559701396

NOBEL PRIZE–WINNING POET AND PHILOSOPHER OCTAVIO PAZ WAS ALSO ONE OF THE MOST PROVOCATIVE AND PERCEPTIVE CRITICS OF THE LAST CENTURY. “I BELIEVE,” STATES PAZ, “THAT A WRITER''S ATTITUDE TO LANGUAGE SHOULD BE THAT OF A LOVER: FIDELITY AND, AT THE SAME TIME, A LACK OF RESPECT FOR THE BELOVED OBJECT. VENERATION AND TRANSGRESSION.” PAZ CLEARLY UNDERSTANDS THAT THE ROLE OF CRITIC IS TO ENLIGHTEN, NOT TO REPLACE. “WE KNOW THAT CRITICISM CANNOT PRODUCE LITERATURE. THAT IS NOT ITS MISSION. ON THE OTHER HAND, WE KNOW IT ALONE CAN CREATE SPACE—PHYSICAL, INTELLECTUAL, MORAL—IN WHICH LITERATURE CAN EVOLVE.” IN A SET OF ESSAYS RANGING OVER THREE DECADES THAT “PUTS OTHER COLLECTIONS OF LITERARY DESCRIPTIONS TO SHAME” (CHOICE), PAZ DISCUSSES AND EVALUATES 16 FELLOW POETS AND WRITERS, FROM WALT WHITMAN TO WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS; BUÑUEL TO SOLZHENITSYN; BAUDELAIRE TO JEAN-PAUL SARTRE, HENRI MICHAUX TO ANDRÉ BRETON.