Gunshots at the Fiesta: Literature and Politics in Latin America

Part III: Aesthetics, Liberalism, Modernity: The Literary and Political Career of Octavio Paz

75 part iii Aesthetics, Liberalism, Modernity The Literary and Political Career of Octavio Paz Chapter 5 From Poetry to Politics The Romantic Liberalism of Octavio Paz De mon chemin sinueux et de l’expérience poétique j’ai tout de même fini par tirer quelques leçons. L’une d’elles, c’est que les “constructions métahistoriques,” qu’elles soient révolutionnaires, métaphysiques, dogmatiques, étouffent la liberté. [From my sinuous itinerary and from the experience of poetry I managed to draw a few lessons. One of them is that “metahistorical constructions,” whether they are of the revolutionary, historical, or dogmatic kind, stifle freedom.] —Octavio Paz T his chapter aims to contribute to a better appreciation of Paz’s political thought, highlighting—if briefly—how his work improves our understanding of some of the fundamental dilemmas of contemporary Western societies. The objective is to show that in his voluminous writings and interviews , Paz offers a constructive and original criticism of both modernity and liberalism from what could be called a poet’s perspective.1 The case is made here that Paz’s thought on politics is worth investigating for at least two reasons. First, the originality of Paz’s insights on most of the central questions of our time—the good life, modernity, freedom, progress, democracy —stems principally from the distance from which he analyzes them: distance as a writer whose thought on modern society derives from a reflection on art; distance as an intellectual in a century that saw the decline of intellectuals ; and finally, distance as a universal thinker from the periphery.2 Second, ...