OCTAVIO PAZ: EVOLUCION DE SU ESTETICA. (SPANISH TEXT)

There are two types of evolution in Octavio Paz\u27s aesthetic ideas: one that operates within the essay itself, going from the poetic to the metaphysical to the anthropological to the aesthetic theory; the other one is chronological and it follows a similar pattern. There are correspondences among key words in each of these categories: Anthropological oral written Poetic imagination critical reason Metaphysical other time historical time Changes in values in these two major sets of concepts give the clue to his development in three stages. In the earliest essays a polemic between philosophic or critical reason and poetic imagination appears. He develops this theme further in his major essay on aesthetics El arco y la lira by distinguishing the differences between the written word of criticism and the poetic word which retains oral qualities. Prose is a symbol and a reason for the linear view of history that has pervaded our culture making irony the sign of our age. At this point the other time is equated with cyclical or mythical time. In a third stage Paz establishes sharper distinctions between the oral and the written word. Criticism acquires a positive value if it is an anti-rhetorical manifestation and the other time is associated with the present. Chapter I presents the general features of this development through his essays marking three important dates: 1943, Poes(\u27)ia de soledad y poes(\u27)ia de comunion ; 1956, El arco y la lira and 1967, La nueva analog(\u27)ia. In Chapter II the nature of criticism in the context of philosophy is explored. His articles of the forties bear the influence of Nietzsche and Ortega. Alienation is the result of our present view of history, while communion belongs with the poets who relate to society. History as criticism is the subject of Chapter III. In El laberinto de la soledad the inner history of Mexico, preserved in the poetic expressions and in the fiestas, is contrasted with critical history which has isolated the individual. But in Posdata the third time, the present, symbol of an oral-critical manifestation of the students, is contrasted with cyclical time, a recurrence of the past; the values are reversed; criticism is favored and cyclical time is rejected. In between these two books a capital development in his theories occurs; he embraces surrealism and publishes El arco y la lira. Chapter IV deals with this essay, which is viewed as the seat of contention between philosophy and poetry. The drama of Plato\u27s Republic is reenacted again, but this time from the point of view of the poet. History is the Platonic year. Neither philosophers nor magicians answer the question of the nature of the world. It is the poet who brings about original time. Heidegger\u27s concept of the word is the origin of Paz\u27s view of the poetic word at this stage. Chapter V poses El arco y la lira and Los hijos del limo as rejection of rhetorical and philosophical forms within the tradition of poetic theories from Romanticism to the present. In Chapter VI time and its relationship with oral and written forms is analyzed. Synchronic studies in the field of anthropology reinforce Paz\u27s idea, expressed in Corriente alterna and Conjunciones y disyunciones, that man can abandon the prison of past and future and concentrate on the present. In this manner he goes from poetry to metaphysics and then through anthropology back to poetry. In 1956 oral and written forms in poetry had the same sign as cyclical time. After the sixties Paz\u27s works express sharper distinctions in these concepts and herald the advent of a third view of time: a new era when poetry will be reinstated