Octavio Paz

Neruda importantly gave early encouragement. Paz met Breton in Mexico and again in France, and Ehrenburg, Gide and Malraux in civil-war Spain. Miłosz stood on the same platform, Castoriadis’ strength of reason never failed to surprise him, Motherwell was a close friend and sometime collaborator, and Cage a friend whom Paz wrote about. Sontag was a correspondent, Fuentes a friend and colleague. Strong friendships with Neruda and Márquez weakened through political disagreements as Paz’s leanings became more right-wing.