Reading the biography of Octavio Paz written by Christopher Domínguez Michael one can, perhaps for the first time, measure in all its breadth the singularity of the existential and intellectual trajectory of one of the great poet-critics of the 20th century (only Yeats, Valéry, Pound and Eliot share Paz's analytical depth and poetic grandeur). In fact, the biographer managed not only to document and describe the commitment and vocation of the Mexican writer, but also to make a profound and original reflection on his literary work, in particular on the mature poetry written by Octavio Paz during his stays in India in the 1950s and 1960s, up to the one produced after his return to Mexico in the 1970s. Finally, the great literary and political adventure of the magazine "Vuelta", the poet's liberal turn during the 1980s and his positions after the 1989 and the neo-Zapatista revolt in Chiapas are told in a lucid way and without ideological subterfuge.