Juan Rulfo

Juan Rulfo (1918-1986), Mexican novelist, one of the leading exponents of magic realism, a literary style usually associated with Latin American literature and characterized by a blend of moral concern, day-to-day details, and fantastic incident. Unlike many of his more prolific contemporaries, Rulfo's reputation is based on just two works: a novel, Pedro Páramo (1955; translated, 1959), and a collection of short stories, El llano en llamas (1953; The Burning Plain, 1967). Rulfo's work reflects the dry Mexican landscape in its frugal use of language, and at all times the reader is aware of a sense of violence and death.

Juan Perez Rulfo was born in the Mexican state of Jalisco, and spent most of his childhood in the town of San Gabriel, which would later be the setting for his novel and many of his stories, and where he attended elementary school. His family was prosperous and owned extensive land in the region. In the late 1920s, however, his life was deeply affected by the Cristero revolt (1926-1929), a series of religious uprisings in western Mexico by members of the Roman Catholic church against the Mexican federal government, led by President Plutarco Elías Calles, and the government's secularization measures. The conflicts exposed Rulfo to the horrors of war and destroyed his family's wealth. Rulfo's father died in 1925, and in 1927 his mother died of a heart attack. Rulfo and his brothers were subsequently sent to an orphanage in Guadalajara, where Rulfo stayed until 1932. In 1934 Rulfo went to Mexico City, and from 1935 to 1945 he worked as an immigration officer in the Mexican Department of the Interior.

Rulfo's writing career began in 1945 with short stories, which appeared in the periodical Pan and were later published as El llano en llamas. Their theme is usually the corrupting effect of everyday violence and of the harsh environment on provincial life. They employ many of the techniques that characterize Mexican writing of the time, such as flashbacks, stream of consciousness, and startling juxtapositions and contrasts, as well as the use of many different points of view. The novel Pedro Páramo is notable for its use of magic realism and for the startling situations that the reader encounters. It was made into a motion picture of the same name in 1967.

In 1962 Rulfo went to work for the National Institute for Indigenous Studies in Mexico City, where he oversaw the publication of the periodical México Indígena, and where he was eventually named director of the editorial department. Rulfo later served as an adviser with the Centro Mexicano de Escritores (Center for Mexican Authors) in Mexico City. In 1970 the Mexican government awarded him the high literary honor of the Premio Nacional de Letras. Rulfo's other works include a collection of his motion-picture scripts, El gallo de oro (The Golden Cock, 1980), and a collection of his photographs, published in Juan Rulfo: Homenaje nacional (1980; Inframundo, 1983).