SOURCE: Kushigian, Julia A. “Flowing Rivers and Contiguous Shores: The Poetics of Paz.” In Orientalism in the Hispanic Literary Tradition, pp. 43-69. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1991.

In the following essay, Kushigian explores ways in which Paz uses language, imagery, and subject matter to depict his philosophy of the mutuality and intersection of Eastern and Western culture and philosophy.

Few would deny Octavio Paz's principal role int he advancement and preservation of Orientalism in Hispanic letters. Paz's interest in the Orient is both historical and anthropological, as he confirms that the Native American is of Asiatic origin, and that this Asiatic origin perhaps explains the numerous similarities between Chinese and American civilizations.¹ His interest is also sociopolitical in nature, as Octavio Paz was ambassador to India for six years beginning in 1962 and resided during her service in New Delhi. It is, in addition, literary, as Paz began...