A Tale of Two Gardens

by Octavio Paz and Eliot Weinberger

Book Overview

Despite having written many acclaimed non-fiction books on the region, he has always considered those writings to be footnotes to the poems. From the long work "Mutra," written in 1952 and accompanied here by a new commentary by the author, to the celebrated poems of East Slope, and his recent adaptations from the classical Sanskrit, Paz scripts his India with a mixture of deft sensualism and hands-on politics.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811213498
• ISBN13: 9780811213493
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 4.8" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Poetic Ambassador

A Tale of Two Gardens is a collection of poems dealing with Nobel laureate Octavio Paz relationship with the great nation of India. He made many trips there over the years. Paz was also the Mexican ambassador to India. (He resigned the position in 1968 to protest government assault on protesters.) There were still later sojourns to India afterwards. Mutra is a really strong poem. It is a flower that grows with each subsequent reading. Few cities have ever been so aptly honoured. Another of the poems I like is The Balcony. Wind From All Compass Points is another standout. The whole collection is a grand achievement. India is the most enduring civilization on the planet. It is only fitting that one of the most enduring poets of the twentieth century should write a poetic tribute. These poems were written over a period of forty years. The love and passion Paz feels for Indian culture and peoples is recurrent in these poems. This was truly his second home. It was the second garden so to speak. And from this love of India came a great gift of poetry for the rest of the world to read and know.

Sensual and evocative

Once again Octavio Paz expresses his love and passion for India and things Indian but this time through his poetry. They style is fluid, sensual and evocative, add to it a plethora of colorful imageries.