Name: Octavio Paz
Year Won: 1990
Read: The Labyrinth of Solitude
Original Language: Spanish
Reason: "for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity"
About: The Labyrinth of Solitude is a series of essays about what it is like to be a Mexican.
What I liked: The writing was clear and easy to follow.
What I Disliked: Want to read a bunch of essays that read like what a 16 year old edgelord Redditor might right? Step no further! Mexicans are dark, barbaric, crude and superstitious! With inflamed, wild passions! They can't distinguish their own individulity from their culture, history, or religion! Because...duh. And of course Paz speaks for all Mexicans, not just like, him. To read it, yes, we do need a wall. We need it now. And we need with turrets that shoot to kill. *eye roll*
In case you're wondering whether it can really be that bad...yes. It can be. This quote especially stood out, but it's all kind of like that... "'A woman's place is in the home with a broken leg'...Woman is a domesticated wild animal, lecherous and sinful from birth, who must be subdued by a stick and guided by the 'reins of religion'. Therefore Spaniards consider other women - especially of a race or religion different than their own - to be easy game."
Yeah...it's something.
Should it have won a Nobel: I mean...I know it was a different era. And I guess you always get a bit more slack when stereotyping your own people. But still...wow...really?
Next Up: "My Son's Story" by Nadine Gordimer
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