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El Llano en llamas

collection of short stories by Mexican author Juan Rulfo

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ1195272 ↗
Source-derived summary

El Llano en llamas is a collection of short stories written by Mexican author Juan Rulfo. Four English translations have been published:

The Burning Plain and Other Stories (University of Texas Press, 1971), translated by George D. Schade.

The Plain in Flames (University of Texas Press, 2012), translated by Ilan Stavans and Harold Augenbraum.

El Llano in flames (Structo Press, 2019), translated by Stephen Beechinor.

The Burning Plain (University of Texas Press, 2024), translated by Douglas J. Weatherford.

The stories were written over several years for different literary magazines, starting in 1945 with "They Gave Us the Land". The collection itself was first published in 1953 by the Fondo de Cultura Económica as part of the collection Letras Mexicanas. After its publication, two other stories, "The Legacy of Matilde Arcángel" and "The Day of the Collapse", were included in its second edition in 1970.

The stories in the book are set in the harsh countryside of the state of Jalisco where Rulfo was raised, with the context of post-Mexican Revolution events such as the distribution of ejidos after the land reform and the Cristero War. They explore the tragic lives of the area's inhabitants who suffer from extreme poverty, family discord, and crime.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “El Llano en llamas” is collection of short stories by Mexican author Juan Rulfo. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Llano, llamas and short, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1971, 2012, 2019, 2024—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1953-09-01. For this dossier, Llano, llamas and short is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “collection of short stories by Mexican author Juan Rulfo” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1195272. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1971, 2012, 2019 and 2024.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “El Llano en llamas”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow El Llano en llamas primary sources, El Llano en llamas archive and Llano research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “El Llano en llamas”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “El Llano en llamas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.