469. The Labyrinth of Solitude

The Labyrinth of Solitude
Octavio Paz
1950

Around 220 pages

Once again, the Powers that Be have abandoned all pretense of this being a collection of best novels. Here we get a collection of essays exploring everything from Mexican identity to our relationship with death. I am not complaining though, Octavio Paz made my jaw drop.

I was fascinated with Paz's perspective and his views on the cultural differences between Mexico and the United States. Here's an excerpt where he explains the disparity in values: "North Americans want to understand and we want to contemplate. They are activists and we are quietists; we enjoy our wounds and they enjoy their inventions. They believe in hygiene, health, work and contentment, but perhaps they have never experienced true joy, which is an intoxication, a whirlwind. In the hubbub of a fiesta night our voices explode into brilliant lights, and life and death mingle together, while their vitality becomes a fixed smile that denies old age and death but that changes life to motionless stone." This was one of those books that I had to keep putting down, simply to absorb the power of his words.

He also shared an interesting take on the deeply rooted cultural attitudes that lead to women being treated as inferior, but at the same time, exalted beings. Definitely worth reading, novels be damned.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts: 

Paz won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature.

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