The Biography of Juan Rulfo is of enormous value and interest due to his versatility as a writer, also standing out with a great photographer, meet this distinguished Mexican writer by reading the following article.
Biography of Juan Rulfo
Considered one of the most important writers in Latin America, Juan Rulfo, also known as Juan Nepomuceno Carlos Pérez Rulfo Vizcaíno, or Juan Rulfo Nota, was born in Mexico, Acapulco in the district of Sayula on May 16, 1917, he stood out as a screenwriter and photographer belonging to the generation of 52.
His fame came in the 50s with the work "El llano en Llamas" in 1953 and Pedro páramo" in 1955, he is considered one of the most important Latin American writers of the XNUMXth century, his works are composed of a fantasy and realistic content, a combination that handles in a very extensive and natural way.
Its environment was linked to regional places that were related to the Mexican revolution at the end of the XNUMXth century and the beginning of the XNUMXth century, its literary content is currently admired as a form of written expression where human treatment and diverse social relations are reflected, linking the man with his social and natural environment, in a way that sometimes even expresses a social claim.
The Biography of Juan Rulfo is made up of various professional and family stages, but above all literary ones where many historians, intellectuals and writers have taken him as a literary reference, his form of narration is a reflection of concrete realities and actions related to the environment. as well as customs and cultural traditions.
First years
At an early age Juan Rulfo lost his father, he was seven years old, in 1924 he began his formal primary school studies, four years later he moved to the San Gabriel region where he lived with his grandmother for a time, due to family problems. They decide to intern him in the Luis Silva orphanage in the city of Guadalajara.
In that place he lived very adverse and distressing moments, the same writer in his biography of Juan Rulfo Reviewed a few years after his death, expresses that this correctional facility left him with some not very pleasant memories for his life.
In 1933 he entered the University of Guadalajara, however that university had so many labor problems that classes were constantly suspended due to claims by teachers and administrative staff for protest issues.
Studies and professional jobs
He then decides to move to Mexico City, where for a time he attended the classes given at the Colegio de San Ildefonso as a listener. By 1934 and according to the biography of Juan Rulfo and reviewed by several Mexican historians, he began to write his first novels and make some literary essays.
That same year he managed to work as a collaborator in América Magazine, for a time he dedicated himself to exercising advisory functions for the Secretary of the Government of Mexico City where he was able to travel throughout the country on service commissions, this allowed him in the In 1938, he established good relations with various writers and publishers at the national level, who later helped him to present his literary works.
Juan Rulfo maintains his line of writing which combined with his cultural activities in the secretary of state, however in the biography of Juan Rulfo that can be seen in various libraries, his beginnings as a photographer cannot be missed, so for the year 1946 begins to carry out photography activities.
Marriage, family and travel
His work as a columnist where he presented some stories, were presented by various foreign and national companies, such as the Goodrich-Euzkadi company where he was even a traveling representative between 1946 and 1952.
During that period he made several trips throughout Mexico and the world, allowing him to meet Clara Angelina Aparicio Reyes, whom he married in 1953 with whom he later had four children named Claudia Berenice, Juan Francisco, Juan Pablo and Juan Carlos.
During the years 1954 and 1957, he collaborated with the Papaloapan Commission and in turn with the National Indigenous Institute in Mexico City. In both he did advisory work and worked as a writer of cultural and diplomatic essays.
Juan Rulfo combined the work of writer, collaborator, advisor and photographer in a very balanced way, he was never observed with levels of stress and worries, his life was always marked by intelligence, sobriety and the defense of the family as a base of a society.
Last days
The last days of Juan Rulfo were spent in Mexico City, after having traveled and projected the literary work of his country and being one of the most important representatives of the literary boom in Latin America in the 50s, he decided not to travel so often, he was presenting health problems, and on January 7, 1986 he died of a heart attack.
At the time, he was considered one of the most important intellectual and literary forces in his country and one of the most relevant Latin American writers, although he was not very prolific with his works, it is believed that those that came to light left a legacy and a great literary message for the posterity of his country and Latin America.
life as a photographer
Despite being a great writer, Juan Rulfo's biography allows us to point out that he was also a great photographer, leaving more than 6.000 negatives that are currently in the family's possession. There you can see innumerable photographic shots from all over the world, which indicates that for him this profession also represented something important and relevant, such as literature.
as a screenwriter
His conditions as a writer allowed Juan Rulfo to interact with various representatives of other artistic currents, which is how the Mexican film director Emilio Fernández, nicknamed "El Indio", contacted him in 1956 in order to request some scripts for his productions.
Juan Rulfo worked for some time with a great Mexican screenwriter named Juan José Arreola, with whom he had a working relationship for a few years, so much so that the film shot in 1960 called El despojo was based on a suggestion made by Juan Rulfo himself.
During 1964, a film called "El gallo de Oro" was screened, in which Juan was an advisor, since the script and the content of the mass were based on two stories that can be read in the play "El llano en calls".
intellectual characteristics
This biography of Juan Rulfo allows us to understand his work and recognize him as a remarkable figure who cultivated various cultural, academic, and intellectual facets. Among the most important of these was his extensive travels, which enabled him to attend countless international conferences, workshops, and meetings.
During these trips, relations with international personalities allowed him to present his works and even some of his valuable photographs in various European countries, either as a representative of the organization or individually. Managing public relations was very important to Juan Rulfo.
In various biographies of Juan Rulfo, we can find how his international relations allowed him to enter various movements of intellectuals and international literature groups, as well as connect with various writers related to the generation of 52.
Awards and accolades
The characteristic and fame of this writer came precisely in the year 1955 when he received the Xavier Villaurrutia Literary Prize for the work Pedro Páramo, which had been written in 1920 as the first version, in 1968 he received the Guggenheim scholarship in Arts, Latin America and the Caribbean. In 1970 he was awarded the National Prize for Literature by the government of Mexico. And by 1974 he was in Europe to participate in the Congress of Students at the University of Warsaw.
On many occasions he received invitations by the presidential delegation of the Mexican government on a tour of Europe, especially in 1975 and 1976, visiting countries such as Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and France. By 1976 he was elected a member of the Royal Mexican Academy of Language. And in 1983 he received the Prince of Asturias Award for letters awarded by the Government and the Kingdom of Spain.
During the year 1987 he received the post mortem "Ariel" Award in Mexico, for the Best Original Plot for the film El imperio de la fortuna, based on the homonymous book by the same author, between 1982 and 2002 the French government had considered the creation of the Juan Rulfo Prize, in order to harmonize and stimulate the work of young writers worldwide.
Literary career
Since 1930 Juan Rufo was involved with the magazine Mexico, which allowed him to present certain articles related to various themes, but above all stories. We can also consider that the biography of Juan Rulfo reflects a constant activity in literary matters, we see then how in 1945 he published a series of stories in the magazine "Pan" that is published even today in the city of Guadalajara.
In that magazine he published two short stories entitled "Life is not very serious about its things", "They have given us the land" and "Just like Macario". After his trip to the country's capital, Juan Rulfo decides to publish Macario's complete story, which appeared in its entirety in América magazine.
By 1948, Juan Rulfo's activity was growing and he published the story "La Cuesta de las Comadres", in 1950 "Talpa y El llano en llamas" and in 1951 "Tell them not to kill me!, all published in the magazine America. For the year 1953, the Economic Culture Fund of Mexico adds the novel "El llano en llamas#" in the collection of the most important literary letters of Mexico.
In 1955 he published the other work that would give him fame «Pedro Páramo», which gave him the aforementioned awards, as well as having been translated into more than 30 languages, despite his work «El llano en llamas» which is a text which contains 16 narratives that were later presented as the history of Cumala, had a great acceptance by the Mexican reader and world literary criticism.
Regarding Pedro Páramo, the work is considered one of the 10 most important Latin American novels of all time, it was Juan Rulfo's first complete novel, where the true narrative and creative literary wealth of this great author is really expressed. .
Between 1956 and 1958, he wrote the novel "El gallo de oro", which was in reserve until it was published in 1980, considered the writer's second major novel.
It has the peculiarity that the 1980 edition was loaded with many errors, the reason is still unknown, however in 2010, these errors were corrected by the publisher and it is believed that with that version the previous errors were corrected.
This novel was the second most important within the Biography of Juan Rulfo, translated into German, Italian, French and Portuguese, it represents a very traditional and extraordinary way of representing the narrative and expression of Juan Rulfo
Artworks
The true works of Juan Rulfo can be easily counted on the fingers of the hands, the most important mentioned above were in order of relevance «Pedro Páramo», «El gallo de oro» and «El llano en llamas», in each of In these works, the characters hardly have a direct participation and hardly act, they are actors who are in charge of transmitting more feeling and less expression.
Connoisseurs explain that this type of narrative is called "Consciousness", the characters and environments do not have a specific location, their faces, gestures and actions are not described in a similar way to how other writers do it, these forms and descriptions they are not important to Rulfo.
The author seeks with this characteristic to present characters that identify each one with an ordinary being, where they do not have special features, so that the reader is left to their own imagination to detail their physical forms and behaviors.
This type of narrative is extremely special and can be found in most of Juan Rulfo's works, The creation and the way of establishing situations, allows us to appreciate, for example, how the Mexican Revolution was observed in the town, who according to some references of Juan Rulfo was very concerned about the consequences that it could have.
The social problem is handled in a sublime way, the peasant and the countryside reflect a social importance related to the latifundio, where the laws and conditions of power do not matter, but the situation in places where civilization does not participate. The works Pedro Páramo and El gallo de oro are a manifestation of the peasants' frustration.
Loneliness is a vital weapon in the works, which serves as food for the minds of some characters, family relationships do not universalize them, but rather turn them into moments of local Mexican culture and belief.
They are ways in which Rulfo seeks to show how people in his country express their emotions, the theme in most of his works is based on situations related to people who live in the countryside and their relationship with nature.
Although the biography of Juan Rulfo is a way of expressing a simple but very intellectual life, the works did not reflect that experience, they are a form of manifestation related to the type of life that takes place in the interior of the country, the characters fight generally against death, which is presented in a sublime way and is almost never offered in a brutal way.
Stylizing the tragedy and the crisis is the most important thing in Rulfo's works, it is observed how in various passages the situations are handled in a way that does not affect the reader's thoughts or idealization, showing in a very sterile way and with parts situational different from reality.
But let's see in chronological order which were those emblematic works of this great writer, the time of greatest production was the 50's. Where varied opinions can be seen in the biography of Juan Rulfo, there they state that it was his moment of greatest inspiration was during that period
For the year 1953 Juan Rulfo writes the work "El llano en llamas", which included a series of stories that allowed some editors to extract them from their literary context and edit them in isolation, each one has a strength and literary value of great importance. .
- Life is not very serious about its things 1945
- Anacleto Morones, The burning plain, 1953.
- Tell them not to kill me, The Burning Plain, 1953.
- It is that we are very poor, The plain in flames, 1953.
- Luvina, The Burning Plain, 1953.
- Macario, The burning plain, 1953.
- You do not hear the dogs bark, The burning plain, 1953.
- Talpa, The burning plain, 1953.
- The night they left him alone, The Burning Plain, 1953.
- The second and most important novel "Pedro Páramo" was written in 1955.
A piece of night, which is a fragment of a novel called The son of discouragement 1959.
- The challenge of creation 1959
- dispossession 1960
- The secret formula 1965
- El gallo de oro was written in 1958 and did not come to public light until 1980.
- empire of fortune 1986
The Comala
La Comala is a very famous city used by Juan Rulfo Used in his stories, it is located very close to the town of Colima, Rulfo uses it as a reference in various stories, he calls it the White City, the city of arches, the magical town However, in reality it is a small town of just 20.000 inhabitants...
In this biography of Juan Rulfo we have the duty to present La Cumala as a special place, with its own nature, exclusive and a place that many writers (according to stories found in biographies of Juan Rulfo) should visit for its natural and spiritual beauty of its residents, the considerations and praises of Juan Rulfo in real life regarding La Comala, did not stop every time they asked him its meaning.
However, in the various stories this rural population is represented as a gloomy place, sunk in misery, dust and laziness, described as a sad place, some consider that Juan Rulfo was never in that small city and that his knowledge of it is by references and stories told by friends and family.
Another considers that the writer was in those parts when he was young, and that some situation that nobody knows what it was, unbridled ideas of aversion towards that region, more hatred or revenge towards its people,
death of uncle
The year was 1974 and Juan Rulfo was in Venezuela, accusing an invitation to a conference and some student activities at the Central University of Venezuela, when he declared something that no one in his country had noticed and not even his relatives knew, Juan Rulfo said that for a considerable time he stopped writing due to the death of his uncle Celerino.
This family member has the quality of explaining everything that existed in life and keeping him informed of everything that happens, there was a very close relationship between the two, they communicated constantly and there was a unique empathy between the two, from a young age Juan Rulfo made trips with his uncle, who showed him and explained the culture and tradition of each place he visited.
Some historians relate in the biography of Juan Rulfo that this distance also allowed him to avoid the repetition of situations and places similar to those of his previous works, they also consider it a very intelligent way out to avoid fatigue and literary routine.
Important data
In 2017, the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of this distinguished author was held, the different cultural, intellectual and governmental organizations of Mexico organized various events where there were international guests, forums, workshops and meetings were held with everything related with Juan Rulfo.
Most of Juan Rulfo's short stories were defined by two processes and events that marked his life during his youth, which later defined the narrative content of his works, especially in the content of many stories.
These two events were the consequences left by the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero War, with respect to the first Juan Rulfo heard many stories from his relatives in relation to the barbarities and how terrible the process after the Mexican Revolution was.
Remember in some passages the cruelty and death manifested in all the actions carried out by that terrible situation. The second war called Cristera was even more tragic since a large number of his relatives died in it, especially his father who left him an orphan without being able to know him in its entirety.
It is interesting then to understand the real theme in the works, this biography of Juan Rulfo seeks in some way to realistically present what he truly represented with his work for the literary culture of Mexico and especially for the Latin American literary movement during the 50s and 60s. XNUMX.
Rulfo's work is currently being published constantly, it has even been seen that at the level of current information processes on the Internet, some young people are getting to know his work through the so-called digital books, which greatly help to appreciate the work of many literary authors of other times.
If you wish to have more information regarding this and other topics, I invite you to click on the following links:
Biography of Jose Emilio Pacheco