The Labyrinth of Solitude: The Other Mexico, Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude, Mexico and the United States, the Philanthropic Ogre (Winner of the Nobel Prize)

A classic. ALmost lyrical prose. But viewed in hindsight, (written years before Fannon, Memi, Kendi) riddled with flawed ideas, steeped in assimilationist & colonial assumptions. Self loathing for a Mexican author.

This book is priceless. It is about Mexican history in the context of American Continents and the world. It is a book of analysis of how Mexico emerged as the country it is today (or 1970 as that was the time the book was completed, by adding new chapters to previous ones written even before that) and its place in the world and its relationship with US. It is not a book for the masses, but once started it flows. I found it easy to read because Octavio Paz presents ideas in a very clear manner. Like Alexander Solzhenitzin, Octavio Paz writes books for the ages, explaining history and social issues in a very direct, open, critical way. I am not Mexican. This book is a must read by anybody who wants to understand the "whys" of our times.

This is my second reading of this classic Mexican look at Mexicans (and some Mexican Americans) of the 60's. I just wonder how Dr. Paz would respond to the current political and social climate toward Mexicans and Mexican Americans in America. What Dr. Paz does is remind us that we are all human and that our similarities far outweigh our differences. He also reminds us to not judge the many (or the group) based on the behavior of the few. When I hear people criticize Americans, I remind them of that. The number (percentage) of honorable and respectable Americans far exceeds the few deplorable ones.

I cannot praise this book enough, though I realize there must be other interpretations of Mexico. Octavio Paz, Nobel Prize-winner, perceives an Aztec archetype operating behind the changing masks of power in Mexico, be they Hernan Cortez, Porfirio Diaz, or the current el presidente. The Mexicans are not exactly Hispanic, nor are they Latino. Instead the population is a mixture of pure-blooded Spaniards, mixed Indian and Spaniard (Mestizos), and indigenous ("Indians" so-called). The latter have for centuries adapted themselves to various rulers by blending into the scenery - as Paz puts it about transplanted Mexicanos, they are both here and not here, simultaneously. It is not so much therefore that they are "living in the shadows" as that this has become over the centuries their traditional way of adapting. Written with the keen insight of a poet, Paz's book will give you a "crash course" on what is Mexico.

''The captive Elements and the ancient Laws of the Earth break loose Like maddened horses. And then a desire to return To chaos rises incessantly. There is much To defend, and the faithful are much needed.'' - Hölderlin (26) Laws need 'faithful defenders'. Chaos does not. ''The faithful are much needed because there is ''much to defend''. . . . But exile, expiation and penitence should proceed from the reconciliation of man with the Universe. Neither the Mexican nor the North American has achieved this reconciliation.'' (26) Paz is here expressing religio/philosophical ideas. These are not ecomonic/political concerns. Takes some adjusting. Great! ''What is even more serious, I am afraid we have lost our sense of the very meaning of all human activity, which is to assure the operation of an order in which knowledge and innocence, man and nature are in harmony. If the solitude of the Mexican is like a stagnant pool, that of the North American is like a mirror.'' (27) Mirror only reflects what is already there. Can't give anything more. Paz consistently provides comparison; Mexican/American, etc.,etc.. Effective teaching method. ''We have ceased to be springs of living water.'' (27) (Probably Biblical reference to Jeremiah's warning to apostate Jews . . . ‘Because my people have done two bad things: They have abandoned me, the source of living water, And dug for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns, that cannot hold water.’) Paz received Nobel prize for this work. Comes from deep within his soul. Heartfelt, insightful, torn from anguish and love. Astounding! Chapters - The Pachuco and other extremes Mexican Masks The Day of the Dead The Sons of La Malinche The conquest and Colonialism From independence to the revolution The Mexican Intelligentsia The present day The Dialectic of Solitude Paz starts with a psychological/philosophical explanation of the Mexican mind. For example . . . ''Past epochs never vanish completely, and blood drips from all their wounds, even the most ancient. Sometimes the most remote or hostile beliefs and feelings are found together in one city or one soul, or are superimposed like those pre-Cortesian pyramids that always conceal others.'' (12) Paz then adds a fascinating footnote . . . ''In our history there are many examples of this superimposition: the neofeudalism of the Porfirio Díaz regime, using positivism to justify itself historicaly; Antonio Caso and José Vasconcelos, the intellectual initiators of the revolution, using the ideas of Boutroux and Bergson to combat positivism; socialist education in a country at least incipiently capitalist. These apparent contradictions all demand a new examination of our history and also our culture.'' (12) ...