I got my first blog hate e-mail today, in reference my blog in Spanish. Apparently I don't know what I'm talking about when I say that Octavio Paz is somewhat overrated. I honestly thought that was a widely shared opinion! It doesn't mean that I don't think he is ever a good or even great poet--simply that he is somewhat sobrevalorado, that his work contains many weaker poems. What surprises me is that I have never had anything even remotely hostile in response to "Jonathan Mayhew's Blog." I'm sure I've been much more disrespectful and savage here than in my relatively academic and tame "Poesía en español."
My Mexican colleague and dear friend refers to Octavio Paz as "el poeta." And if you are innocent enough to ask which poet he means, a lecture awaits you. :-)
ResponderEliminarHis second favorite poet is the amazing Osip Mandelshtam, so I forgive him for his insistence on "el poeta."
My well-guarded secret is that I don't like Paz as a poet at all. Love him as an ensayista, though.
Yes. I think he's better as an essayist too. Huidobro too is overrated, though Paz is better.
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