Octavio Paz: The essay as critical passion. María Zambrano: Writing as “pure act of faith”

Abstract

The article addresses the genre of essay, Octavio Paz’s El laberinto de la soledad; an emblematic critical, moral and historical essay which María Zambrano commented upon in the short text “Un descenso a los infiernos”. One distinctive trait of Paz’s essays is his critical passion. On the other hand, a characteristic feature of María Zambrano’s writing may be found in the programmatic text from 1934 “Por qué se escribe”. The aim of this article is to shed light on how Paz interpreted the loneliness of the Mexican people from a historical point of view, and how Zambrano interpreted loneliness.