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Volver al ser : un acercamiento a la poética de Octavio Paz

University of British Columbia

The aim of this thesis is to explore two paths that lead to the very core of Octavio Paz's poetic vision. One path is generated by the idea of poetry as "returning to Being" -- the ontological key --, and it yields the fundamental concepts that both constitute and support the structure of the poetic process, from the moment of the creation of the poem by the poet to the moment of its recreation by the reader or the listener. Because it deals with the question of Being and with the inextricable relations between Being, language and man, this path takes us back to the sources of Western ontological tradition and places Paz within that same tradition. The other path is generated by the concept of "poetic image" -- the epistemological key -- an element purported to be unique to lyrical language and to realize a model of knowing that transcends the subject-object epistemological dichotomy. Thus it is regarded and treated as the second key element whereby Paz’s own poetic search is tied in with the epistemological search which essentially characterizes the evolution of Western modern thought. Both paths are perceived as being closely interwoven and as defining the essential direction that leads to the heart of Octavio Paz's poetic vision. In the final analysis, Paz's poetry is looked at and dealt with as a possible way to 'salvation', insofar as true poetic experience may cause a significant change in human consciousness, leading man back to Being and restoring his original harmony with Nature and his own self.

Text

2011-02-08

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/31126

Hispanic Studies

University of British Columbia

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