Octavio Paz y John Cage

música y literatura

Abstract

In this article I will address the intimate connection that a Latin American giant like Octavio Paz created between music and literature. Octavio Paz establishes a dialogue with the avant-garde music of the American composer John Cage in his poem “Lectura de John Cage” from the collection of poems Ladera Este (1969). 
The poem is inspired by the ecstatic experience of listening to and enjoying Cage’s music. I will analyze how the language of poetry is able to translate the language of music and listening, emphasizing the poetic meaning. Music and rhythm are two essential components in Paz’s poetry, a poetry that was written to be recited, to be read aloud. It should be noted that Cage also liked the poetry of Octavio Paz and both found new artistic elements in the oriental cultures of India and China to develop their own creations. Octavio Paz and John Cage deepened their relationship with art as a theoretical and aesthetic exercise where music and poetry create a continuous dialogue and where the need to question the limits of what is art is evident. The aesthetic search of Paz and Cage is that of the artist and of being. Here also it is developed a myth, of the individual genius and romanticism.