The Writing in the Stars : : A Jungian Reading of the Poetry of Octavio Paz / / Rodney Williamson.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter UTP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2015
• VerfasserIn: Williamson, Rodney,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©2007
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

Born in Mexico City in 1914, writer, poet, and diplomat Octavio Paz won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990, eight years before his death in 1998. The Writing in the Stars explores Paz's life and ideas by establishing a dialogue between the structure and recurring images of his major poems and the ideas of Carl Jung.Although other literary critics have pointed to Jungian concepts in Paz, a comprehensive study on the subject has yet to be undertaken. Rodney Williamson takes up this challenge, adopting a Jungian perspective to explore successive phases of Paz's poetry. Williamson illustrates how archetypal images infuse Paz's early poetry and his surrealist period and shows how the circular structure of Paz's longer poems, such as 'Piedra de sol' and 'Blanco,' are based on the Eastern sacred circle or mandala, a major archetype of psychic wholeness in Jung. He argues that a grasp of the psychological importance of Jung's archetypes is essential to understanding the various syntheses of creative truth and existence sought by Paz at different defining moments of his career as a poet. The Writing in the Stars will prove fascinating to anyone interested in Latin-American literature, Jungian psychology, or critical theory.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Prelude -- Phase One: Libertad bajo palabra: The Dialogue with the Other -- Phase Two: Piedra de sol : The Birth of Ego Consciousness and the Search for Self -- Phase Three: Blanco: Mandala and the Ritual of Meaning -- Phase Four: Vuelta, Nocturno de San Ildefonso, and Pasado en claro : The Circular Journey and Return to the Source -- Phase Five: Carta de creencia : The Human Couple -- Conclusions: A Handful of Words -- Notes -- References -- Index