The Burning Plain

By Juan Rulfo

Book Overview

A new translation of El Llano en llamas, an iconic collection of short stories that changed the course of Mexican and Latin American literature.

Since its publication in 1953, Juan Rulfo's The Burning Plain (El Llano en llamas) has become Mexico's most significant and most translated collection of short fiction. Set largely in a distressed rural region of the state of Jalisco known as El Llano Grande (the burning plain of the title), the seventeen stories of this anthology trace the lives of characters in the wake of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917) and the Cristero Revolt (1926-1929). A father carries his fatally wounded son through the night in search of healing; a young girl's prized cow is swept away by a flood, along with her family's harvest; and a group of campesinos spend all day walking across the immense, barren Llano that the government has given them to farm. Through it all, Rulfo rejects moralizing and nostalgia, capturing instead the hushed reality of a landscape and people marked by violence and the weight of hardship and injustice.

Rulfo's writing, often compared in importance to that of William Faulkner, Anton Chekov, and Gabriel Garc a Marquez, is characterized by a laconic literary prose and the distinctive language heard throughout the rural communities of southern Jalisco. These qualities come alive in Douglas J. Weatherford's vibrant new rendition of Mexico's most celebrated collection. Seventy years after its first publication in Spanish, Rulfo's work speaks to a new generation of readers.

"Among contemporary writers in Mexico today 1959], Juan Rulfo is expected to rank among the immortals."―The New York Times Book Review

"What is remarkable about these sketches is that the characters are rendered with deep honesty; their faults are highlighted, celebrated in a way that is reminiscent of Chekhov's peasants."―Publishers Weekly

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 147732996X
• ISBN13: 9781477329962
• Release Date: September 2024
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

strange but captivating writing

Rulfo's style, like his stories, is sparse, quiet, and often harsh. He offers disturbing tales of miserable people in barren places; yet there is also a strange beauty to be found in his work. I can think of few, if any, examples of such perfect prose. The characters--though they suffer--seem close at hand and perfectly real, and he gives the most incredible descriptions of landscapes that I have ever read in my life. It is easy to see his connection to "magical realism"--it is largely in the way he sets the tone of the stories, and in those unbelievably vivid descriptions--but his work does not fall into that category. There is no escaping the terribly blunt reality he creates. Whether you are interested in Latin American literature or not, if you are at all interested in prose, you should read this book.

give art a chance.

The Burning Plains is a compilation of short stories that Juan Rulfo published on diferent publications at different times. it's also at the moment, besides his masterpiece Pedro Paramo, the only material available.The shorts stories are chilling, incledibly well written. It's superb, and the english translation more than acceptable.To me the highlights of the book are "Talpa" and "they have given us the land" (the opener on the spanish version, but some reason is not on this english edition)but the whole book is amazing.I bought this book for my girfriend as an exorsism from jennifer Wiener's "Good in Bed" I was worried about the translation but it didn't dissapoint me.the ideal way to read The Burning Plain is in spanish, but since this book is not that surreal as pedro paramo is, this tranlation works just fine.I hope this brief note helps you to choose a good book.

El llano en llamas

Uno de los mejores libros que he leido. Las historias son realmente muy buenas. Recomendado para todos aquellos que les gusta leer.

Rulfo's best

Rulfo shines as a "cuentista" and I think this collection ofstories establishes him as northern Mexico's poetic voice. The desolation of Mexican life here is truly haunting yet somehow beautiful. I recommend these stories over his novel "Pedro Paramo", even though the novel is quite interesting.

beautiful sadness

I read this book in Spanish for the language, then in English for extra clarity. It is beautifully sparse, much like a black and white photograph - its surface is dark and bleak and colorless, yet the texture which can be read and felt beneath the surface is absolutely breathtaking. Rulfo creates a world I am both entranced by and afraid of.