El Llano en llamas. Commemorative Edition 70th Anniversary 1953-2023

Category: JUAN RULFO, Literature, JUAN RULFO

€24.95

ISBN: 978-84-19233-64-6

Author: Juan Rulfo

Co-published with Fundación Juan Rulfo
Design: José Luis Lugo
Binding: Hard cover with silver embossing
Pages: 232 with color offprint
Dimensions: 13,5 x 21 cm
Language: Spanish
Publication year: 2023

Printed on September 18th 1953, the book El Llano en llamas takes its title from the longest story it contains, which is directly linked to the history of Jalisco during the most violent decades of the 1910 Revolution and its no less agitated aftermath. But the rest of the stories have that period only as an incidental background, or it is completely absent. A peculiarity of the work is, curiously, that its seventeen stories are all different from each other.

The common feature of these stories is to be found in the strong characters who are the protagonists of their actions and words. They are not all named, but we see them move and speak as if they were alive, and it is common to quote them as if they were real people in real settings: Llano seco, los Torricos, el hermano de Tacha, Tanilo, el Pichón, Juvencio Nava, el aire gris de Luvina, Lucas Lucatero y sus beatas… They are all people and settings familiar to many readers.

To those who read Rulfo in cultures and languages more distant from Spanish, these beings and places are also recognizable in their tribulations and destinies. They are, at times, archetypal despite their clearly outlined local and historical origins, and this is precisely the greatest achievement literature can aspire to.

The present commemorative edition reproduces, in addition to the definitive text of “El Llano en llamas”, the first version of the story, which appeared in 1950 in the magazine América. It also contains a large number of the covers of various translations of the book into many different languages.

Limited 70th Anniversary Edition.