Octavio Paz and TS Eliot
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Octavio Paz and T. S. Eliot: A Literary Relation A dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Thomas Alan Boll University College London 2004 1 UMI Number: U592645 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U592645 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract This thesis applies a Reception Studies approach to the relationship between the works of T. S. Eliot and Octavio Paz. Although my introduction considers the influence theory of Harold Bloom and Julia Kristeva’s ‘intertextuality’, it finds the methodology of Hans Robert Jauss a more appropriate model for the analysis of a literary relationship that spans two different languages and cultures. The study is divided into two parts. Part One, ‘Mexican Horizons’, asks what were the translations that first introduced Paz to Eliot; and to which precursors and contemporaries in Mexico could Paz compare Eliot’s work. Writers such as Ramon L6pez Velarde and Salvador Novo, while unaware of Eliot, shared influences with him, and so created a context in which he could be understood. Paz also read Eliot as a counterpart to St.-John Perse, whoseAnabase appeared in Spanish translation in the Mexican literary magazine, Contemporaneos , shortly after translations of The Waste Land andThe Hollow Men. Part Two, ‘1930-1948’, analyses Paz’s use of Eliot in his own poems. It pays particular attention to the role that Eliot played in Paz’s ambivalent relationship with the group of writers that contributed Contemporaneos.to Paz’s own poems experience a constant struggle between scepticism and the assertion of pseudo-religious political belief. He makes use of Eliot on both sides of this struggle. My conclusion takes Paz’s last prose comments on Eliot as evidence of the final extent and limits of the relationship between the two authors. Paz continues to interrogate Eliot for conceptual expressions of belief, yet he acknowledges an experience of Eliot’s poems which lies beyond the clarity of such formulations. Three appendices supplement the reception history with accounts of Eliot’s role in Paz’s reading of surrealism, his first substantial work of poetic theory,El arco y la lira , and his later poems. 2 Contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 4 Abbreviations 6 A Note on Editions 8 Introduction : Theories of Literary Relation 9 PART ONE: Mexican Horizons 1. Eliot in Spanish 34 2. Precursors 59 3. Contemporaries 81 PART TWO: 1930-1948 4. ‘^Arte de tesis o arte puro?’ 109 5. Two Excursions 140 6. Taller 164 7. U.S. 203 Conclusion 247 Appendix I: Surrealism 256 Appendix II: Eliot inEl arco y la lira 280 Appendix III: Later Poems 290 Bibliography T. S. Eliot in Spanish 303 Octavio Paz 308 T. S. Eliot 322 Other Works 330 3 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Board for their support of this study and also for a travel grant which allowed me to trace a substantial part of my bibliography. My Spanish supervisor, Jason Wilson, has been a constant source of learning, guidance and enthusiasm from the day when I first turned up unannounced at his office with a vague idea for a study on Octavio Paz and T. S. Eliot. My English supervisor, Peter Swaab, has provided both encouragement and subtle observations on Eliot and matters of written style. At the University of Bristol John Lyon provided advice on my first proposal and Tim Webb provided both advice and references for funding applications. Valerie Eliot kindly provided me with copies of, and permission to quote from, correspondence between T. S. Eliot and Angel Flores. A number of people were generous with their time and their opinions in Mexico City. Anthony Stanton provided me with particularly valuable information from his own conversations with Paz about T. S. Eliot. Homero Aridjis helped me to articulate some of my own murkier thinking about Paz. Victor Manuel Mendiola also provided stimulating discussion, as did Christopher Dominguez Michael. Claudia Lucotti made me welcome at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and Maria Enriqueta Gonzalez Padilla kindly introduced me to an MPhil thesis on Paz and Eliot that I had not been aware of previously. Rosa Maria Villareal provided me with invaluable introductions. I have been given opportunities to discuss different aspects of this study at the Comparative Literature Seminar at University College London, run by Theo Hermans, and the Reception of British Authors in Europe Seminar at the School of Advanced Study in the University of London, run by Elinor Shaffer. Theo Hermans provided advice on the earliest stage of my study and Elinor Shaffer’s seminars have been the chief model for my adoption of a reception methodology. The considerable time spent searching for bibliographic material would have been much more considerable without the help of staff at various libraries. In particular, I would like to thank the University of London and University College London libraries, the Institute of Latin American Studies, the Taylor Institution Library in Oxford, the 4 British Library, Cambridge University Library, the Biblioteca Daniel Cosio Villegas at the Colegio de Mexico, and the Bibioteca Nacional de Mexico. Bet Daurella first introduced me to Paz’s poems with a presentSant for JordVs day. Alice Bree has offered care and attention during the course of this study. Sarah Maguire has offered support in its later stages. Diego and Cecilia have provided advice on all things Mexican as well as a valued friendship. Cecilia has also proof-read the manuscript. My mother has proof-read and held on to duplicate copies of the manuscript as well as following its tortuous progress. Jane has made it possible with her encouragement and understanding. 5 Abbreviations Works by Octavio Paz AOM A la orilla del mundo y Primer dla, Bajo tu clara sombra, Raiz del hombre, Noche de resurrecciones. Arcol El arco y la lira: el poema; la revelacion poetica; poesia e hist or ia (1st edn, 1956). Arco2 El arco y la lira (2nd edn, 1967). AlP Al paso. BCS Bajo tu clara sombra y otros poemas sobre Espaha. CA Corriente altema. Corr Correspondencia: Alfonso Reyes / Octavio Paz (1939-1959). EPF Entre la piedra y la flor. ‘Genealogia’ ‘Genealogia de un libro:Libertad bajo palabra\ interview with Anthony Stanton (1988). Hijos Los hijos del limo: del romanticismo a la vanguardia. In/med In/mediaciones. It Itinerario. LBP Libertad bajo palabra (1 * edn, 1949). LS El laberinto de la soledad. MyP Memoriasy palabras: Cartas a Pere Gimferrer 1966-1997. ‘NCA’ ‘Noctumo de la ciudad abandonada’. OC1, OC2 Obras completas, vol. 1, vol. 2 etc. Ogro El ogro filantropico: historia y politico 1971-1978. OP Obrapoetica (1935-1988). OV La otra voz. ‘Pasos’ ‘Los pasos contados’. PC Pasion critica. Peras Las peras del olmo. PL Primeras letras (1931-1943). Puertas Puertas al campo. ‘REM’ ‘Rescate de Enrique Munguia’. 6 Solo Solo a dos voces. Sombras Sombras de obras: Arte y literatura. SyG El signo y el garabato. ‘TSE’ ‘T. S. Eliot’. Vill Xavier Villaurrutia en persona y en obra. Works by T. S. Eliot AOP ‘Introduction’ Theto Art of Poetry by Paul Valery. ASG After Strange Gods. CPP The Complete Poems and Plays. IMH The Inventions o f the March Hare: Poems 1909-1917. KE Knowledge and Experience in the Philosophy o f F. H. Bradley. LI The Letters ofT. S. Eliot, Volume 1: 1898-1922. MS VE Private Collection, Mrs. Valerie Eliot, London. ‘MTP’ ‘Modem Tendencies in Poetry’. OPP On Poetry and Poets. SE Selected Essays. SW The Sacred Wood. TCC To Criticize the Critic. ‘UOM’ ‘Ulysses, Order, and Myth’. UPUC The Use o f Poetry and the Use of Criticism. VMP The Varieties o f Metaphysical Poetry. WLF The Waste Land: A Facsimile and Draft of the Original Transcripts. 1 A Note on Editions In 1991 Octavio Paz’s works began to appear in a series of Obras completas published by Circulo de Lectores in Spain and the Fondo de Cultura Economica in Mexico. Since the series was not complete when I embarked on my study, and since it is still available only patchily in British libraries, 1 have chosen to refer to the collections in which Paz’s poetry and prose initially appeared. This decision is in part pragmatic but also methodological. My aim has been to trace the historical unfolding of Paz’s relationship with Eliot and so I have attempted where possible to cite each of his works as evidence of his position at a particular moment. TheObras completas often incorporate later revisions which, while they may be a faithful record of the legacy that Paz wished to leave, represent a misleading combination of original impulse and retrospection for the literary historian. I have thus used theObras completas for the occasional article that was not readily available in an earlier form and for the prologues that Paz provided for each volume, which are valuable evidence of his thinking in the last years of his career. 8 Introduction Theories of Literary Relation In 1988 the Ingersoll Foundation awarded Octavio Paz the T. S. Eliot Prize. Paz’s acceptance speech, which was published in his own magazine,Vuelta , wastes little time over the formalities - acknowledging the worth of previous recipients, Borges, Ionesco, Naipaul - before striking a more confessional tone: La circunstancia de que el Premio ostente el nombre del poeta angloamericano tiene para mi un alcance primordial, a un tiempo intimo y simbolico.