Juan Rulfo (1918–1986)
Author of Pedro Páramo
About the Author
Image credit: Courtesy of Serpent's Tail Press
Works by Juan Rulfo
The ultimate classic collection 18 copies
El Llano en llamas (Coleccion Popular) (Spanish Edition) by Rulfo Juan (June 25,1992) (1602) 8 copies
Ova Alev Alev 5 copies
La morte al Messico: racconti 2 copies
Homenaje a Juan Rulfo (Colección del Centro de Estudios Literarios) (Spanish Edition) (1989) 2 copies
RRAFSHINA NE FLAKE 1 copy
BİZE TOPRAK VERDİLER 1 copy
Der Llano in Flammen 1 copy
Un pedazo de noche 1 copy
Bình Địa Trong Lửa 1 copy
Tradición de la cultura 1 copy
Talpa 1 copy
ท่งกุลาลุกไหม้ 1 copy
Los Chinantecos 1 copy
Cuentos de Juan Rulfo 1 copy
Mis imágenes y mi muerte 1 copy
Η Πεδιάδα στις Φλόγες 1 copy
PEDRO PÁRAMO 1 copy
Associated Works
A Hammock Beneath the Mangoes: Stories from Latin America (1991) — Contributor — 148 copies, 3 reviews
Introducción a la literatura hispanoamericana : de la conquista al siglo XX (1997) — Contributor — 20 copies
New Voices of Hispanic America: An Anthology — Contributor — 2 copies
Juan Carlos Onetti, Juan Rulfo : Grandes Personajes a Fondo — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Rulfo, Juan
- Legal name
- Rulfo Vizcaíno, Juan Nepomuceno Carlos Pérez
- Birthdate
- 1918-05-16
- Date of death
- 1986-01-07
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Mexico
- Birthplace
- Sayula, Mexico
- Place of death
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Places of residence
- Sayula, Mexico (birth)
Mexico City, Mexico (death) - Occupations
- short-story writer
novelist
screenwriter
photographer - Awards and honors
- Premio Nacional de Literatura (1970)
Academia Mexicana de la Lengua (1980)
Premio Príncipe de Asturias (Letters, 1983)
Premio Cervantes (1985)
Premio Xavier Villaurrutia (1956)
Members
Reviews
No tengo ni idea de que es lo que acabo de leer.
Pero me ha gustado.
En un articulo del telegraph dicen ¨leer este libro es como abrir una caja con los susurros de la gente que anteriormente ha abierto la caja¨
Extrañamente esta descripción le encaja bastante bien.
Pero me ha gustado.
En un articulo del telegraph dicen ¨leer este libro es como abrir una caja con los susurros de la gente que anteriormente ha abierto la caja¨
Extrañamente esta descripción le encaja bastante bien.
What a gem. I wish my Spanish was good enough to read the original. You can picture a young Gabriel Marquez reading this and having his mind blown
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 87
- Also by
- 18
- Members
- 5,703
- Popularity
- #4,332
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 123
- ISBNs
- 308
- Languages
- 22
- Favorited
- 28
A review of the Grove Press paperback (March 10, 1994) of a translation by Margaret Sayers Peden of the Spanish language original "Pedro Páramo" (1955).
I actually had never heard of the novel Pedro Páramo until I read Mateo Garcia Elizondo's Last Date in El Zapotal (2019 orig./2024 translation) and learned that it was an homage to the earlier book. Shortly afterwards, I learned that a new feature film adaptation of the novel would have its World Premiere at my local film festival TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival). I don't ignore signs from the universe so of course I had to read it before seeing the film.
This is a novel full of ghosts and hauntings. A man named Juan Preciado goes in search of his father named Pedro Páramo in the fictional town of Comala in Mexico. It turns out that both the father and the town are dead and although Juan meets and talks to people they are all ghosts from the past.
The book toggles back & forth from Juan's story to the early days of the town and how Páramo schemed through marriages and murders to become the largest landowner in the area. Miguel, one of his other sons, comes to a bad end after a life of molestations and rapes. Preciado's mother is only married to Páramo for a year before escaping. Páramo is infatuated with Susana San Juan but when he eventually wins her she sickens and dies. His revenge on the town is to let it fall into starvation and decay.
See photograph at https://images.ctfassets.net/22n7d68fswlw/7DNILvxM7oyqx72EshogYC/bef818e1e91d16a...
Actor Manuel García-Rulfo as Pedro Páramo in the 2024 film adaptation directed by Rodrigo Prieto. Image sourced from TIFF 24 (Toronto International Film Festival).
Overall this is pretty grim reading, but its elements of magic realism are considered especially influential in the later works of Gabriel García Márquez, who first read the book in 1961. Although it is considered an important work by Rulfo, I was surprised when I checked the editions of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and found that only Rulfo's short story collection The Burning Plain and Other Stories was included there.
Trivia and Links
The novel has been adapted twice as a feature length film. The first adaptation was the black & white film Pedro Páramo (1967) directed by Carlos Velo and starring John Gavin as the title character. You can see the entire film on YouTube here, it is in Spanish, but you can turn on subtitles and annotations and select English or any other language of your choice.
The second adaptation is 2024's Pedro Páramo directed by Rodrigo Prieto in his feature film directorial debut. Prieto has otherwise been the cinematographer for dozens of prominent feature films for directors such as Martin Scorcese and Greta Gerwig. There is no trailer available yet (as of early September 2024). The film will be available via Netflix in late 2024. The film's star Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is probably best known to English speaking audiences for his portrayal of author Michael Connelly's series character Mickey Haller in The Lincoln Lawyer TV series.… (more)