Octavio Paz and Surrealism

Abstract

The approach of Octavio Paz to Surrealism, which initially after a total disapproval becomes evident in the book of poems of Libertad bajo palabra from 1949, is well known. This approach, turning for a moment into an adherence to the group of André Breton in Paris, culminates in the publication of the essay “El surrealismo” in Las peras del olmo from 1957. The present article aims to illuminate the ideological as well as theoretical-literary characteristics of this approach in the thinking of Paz on the ground of the concepts of freedom, love and poetry, which Paz adopts from the essay Arcane 17 by Breton. However, the approach to Surrealism by Paz does not take place without some reticence, which can be seen clearly in the criticism of the exaltation of the person of the Marquis de Sade and the concept of automatic writing, in which Paz recognizes a destruction of the idea of the poetic self, capable to make the practice of poetic activity obsolete.

Keywords

• Octavio Paz
• aproximación al Surrealismo
• libertad, amor, poesía
• marqués de Sade, escritura automática