Rulfo, Juan

Rulfo, Juan (hwän rl`fō), 1918–86, Mexican writer. In his fiction he recreates the desolation of his native southern Jalisco and brings to life its simple people in a harsh and tragic manner. He wrote one book of short stories, The Burning Plain and Other Stories (1955; tr. 1967). His novel, Pedro Páramo (1955; tr. 1959), is a complex work with many episodes arranged poetically rather than chronologically and narrated by people who are already dead; in its fusion of realistic and fantastic themes, it was an important influence on later writers.

Bibliography

See study by L. Leal (1983).

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Rulfo, Juan 

Born May 16, 1918, in Sayula, Jalisco. Mexican writer.

Rulfo has worked as a photographer; he has also worked for the road and highway administration. His collection of realistic short stories The Plain in Flames (1953; Russian translation, 1970) depicts Mexican village life. In the novella Pedro Paramo (1955; Russian translation, 1970), Rulfo has created a sinister portrait of an all-powerful cacique, the wealthy master of an entire region. The work is written in the form of the Menippean satire, an experimental and fantastic genre. Rulfo’s works, which profoundly reveal the inner world of the peasant, are an important contribution to Mexican prose of the 1950’s.

WORKS

In Russian translation:
[Rasskazy.] Zvezda, 1957, no. 5.
“Rodina toski.” Molodaiagvardiia, 1965, no. 5.

REFERENCES

Kuteishchikova, V. Meksikanskii roman. [Moscow, 1971.]
Rodríguez-Alcalá, H. El arte de Juan Rulfo. Mexico City, 1965.
Harss, L. “Juan Rulfo o la pena sin nombre.” In his book Los nuestros. Buenos Aires [1966].
Ros, A. Zur Theorie literarischen Erzählens: Mit einer Interpretation der “cuentos”von J. Rulfo. [Frankfurt am Main, 1972.]
Ferrer Chivite, M. El laberinto mexicano en las obras de J. Rulfo. Mexico City, [1972].