Juan Rulfo and Octavio Paz: Contemporaries of the Mexican Revolution
Juan Rulfo (1917) and Octavio Paz (1914) were Mexican authors born during the revolution but lived through its aftermath.
Paz, a prolific writer, admired Rulfo and commented on his work.
Rulfo was reserved and silent, with few recorded comments on Paz.
They shared concerns about themes related to the Mexican Revolution.
The focus is on the authors' interpretations of the revolution, not just the events themselves.
Juan Rulfo's Early Life and Background
Born in 1917 in rural Jalisco, Mexico.
Jalisco is a state in central-western Mexico; Guadalajara is its capital and a major city.
Rulfo's family was initially well-off but lost their land due to the revolution and the Cristo War.
His father was murdered when Rulfo was six, and his mother died a few years later, leaving him an orphan.
Raised by relatives, he moved to Guadalajara for schooling but didn't complete university due to strikes.
He moved to Mexico City, attended classes at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), and became involved in the literary world.
Historical Context: The Cristero War (1920s)
The Mexican Revolution effectively ended in 1920, but violence continued.
The Cristero War was an uprising of Catholic peasants against the anti-clerical Mexican government, particularly in Jalisco.
The Mexican Revolution inherited anti-church sentiments from 19th-century liberal thinkers and politicians who believed the Catholic Church had excessive power.
Benito Juarez's reform laws aimed to reduce the church's power by separating church and state and forcing the church to sell land.
The intent was to distribute land to peasants, but wealthy individuals often bought it.
Indigenous communities traditionally held land communally, but Benito Juarez sought to promote individual property ownership.
The reform laws led to indigenous communities being forced to sell their land, strengthening the landholding class.
The Mexican Revolution aimed to bring "tierra y libertad" (land and freedom) but also had an anti-church stance.
President Plutarko Elias Calles (1924-1928) implemented constitutional articles limiting the Catholic Church's power.
The Cristero War resulted from Catholic peasants resisting these measures to protect their traditions.
The conflict lasted three years and ended with an agreement mediated by American bishops and the Vatican.
The Catholic Church's power remained restricted until the 1980s and 1990s.
Rulfo's Career and Photography
Rulfo lived in Jalisco during the Cristero War, experiencing its violence.
He moved to Mexico City and had a slow start to his writing career.
He worked various government jobs, including border control and the Department of the Interior.
He worked for the Instituto Nacional Indigenista, promoting the interests of indigenous communities.
He also worked for a tire company as a salesman and traveled extensively.
Rulfo was also a photographer, capturing evocative and desolate landscapes.
His photographs often mirrored the themes in his narratives.
Rulfo's Literary Works and Recognition
Rulfo began publishing short stories in the 1940s.
He published two books: El Llano en llamas (1953), a collection of short stories (translated as The Burning Plain), and Pedro Páramo (1955), his only novel.
These works brought him international fame and literary awards.
He experienced writer's block later in his career and never published another novel or collection of short stories.
Despite being seen as a lonely figure, his wife and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, he knew famous people and socialized.
Analysis of "They Gave Us the Land" (Nos han dado la tierra)
The title captures the voice of the characters rather than imposing symbolism.
The characters are speaking from the title itself, giving the reader an immediate inner perspective.
The government gave them the land as part of agrarian reform following the Mexican Revolution.
Context: Agrarian Reform
Land redistribution was a major goal of revolutionaries like the Zapatistas.
Presidents Obregon and Calles in the 1920s focused on other priorities and didn't emphasize agrarian reform.
President Lazaro Cardenas (1934-1940) attempted agrarian reform, but the results were limited.
The story critiques the revolution's failure to meet the aspirations of peasants and the government's manipulation of the people.
The characters are former revolutionaries whose rifles and horses were taken away after the revolution, symbolizing injustice.
Symbolism and Style in "They Gave Us the Land"
The hen is symbolic, representing the promise of domestication and hope.
The hen contrasts with the government's abandonment of the peasants.
The government is portrayed as inhuman, uncaring, and indifferent.
The characters have a warm, nurturing relationship with the hen, contrasting the government's lack of care.
The harsh landscape and nature are portrayed to be against the characters as well.
The government does not have a mother.
The style is laconic, not very emotional, and reporting the events in a matter-of-fact way.
The title is an example of using the characters' own voices.
The story incorporates first-person-plural narrative.
The narrative style is awkward and repetitive, capturing the character's authentic voice.
Octavio Paz: Life and Influences
Octavio Paz (1914-1998) was born during the Mexican Revolution into a distinguished family of intellectuals.
Raised by his grandfather, Iranio Paz, who came from Jalisco, was an author, politician, and newspaper editor.
His father, also named Octavio Paz, was a lawyer who worked for Emiliano Zapata and represented him in Los Angeles.
His mother, Josefa Loso, was from Spain, connecting him to both Mexican and Spanish heritage.
He briefly lived in Los Angeles as a child and experienced alienation due to language and cultural differences.
His father was an alcoholic and died in 1935 under mysterious circumstances.
In the 1930s, he met Elena Garro, a well-known author, and they married in 1935. Their relationship was turbulent.
He sided with the republicans during the Spanish Civil War.
Paz's Political Views and travels
Paz was on the left of the political spectrum but grew skeptical of Stalinism and fought with Pablo Neruda over this.
In 1943, he received a Guggenheim fellowship to study American poetry and moved to Los Angeles and later to Berkeley.
His experiences in California inspired his book El Laberinto de la Soledad (The Labyrinth of Solitude), published in 1950.
The book analyzes Mexican national identity in contrast to American culture.
Paz observed the Pachuco culture in Los Angeles, considering them representatives of Mexican identity.
The Zoot Suit riots highlighted discrimination against Mexican Americans at the time.
The Labyrinth of Solitude Analysis
The book explores Mexican identity through an ethnography of Mexican society.
He argues Mexicans have a unique relationship to death, a love of fiesta, and a key characteristic of solitude.
Paz connects Mexican solitude to the conquest, rejecting both Cortes (the conqueror) and La Malinche (seen as a traitor).
By rejecting both Spanish and indigenous heritages, Mexicans are left in a state of solitude.
The book reconstructs Mexican history, including the period between independence and the revolution.
Paz sees identity as a continuous search.
Paz: Ideas vs reality
He highlights a problem of "simulation and inauthenticity" that the revolution is a response to.
He says ideas disguised reality in 19th-century Mexico during the wars of independence and the Porfiriato.
The leaders of the independence movement, derived from the local feudal aristocracy, could not create a modern state. They were too tied to ideas from former European authors.
Spanish American independence … difficult to interpret because, once again, ideas disguise reality instead of clarifying or expressing it.
Paz on the Porfiraito
The Porfiriato: the regime adopted positivism without adapting it, leading to something out of place.
He also states that imitation becomes a form of masking during the Diaz regime.
Octavio paz and Jose Marti think that ideas should match the conditions of the country.
The Mexican revolution was an "explosive and authentic nature of our real nature"
Pat says the revolution was an attempt to reconquer our past and make it live again.
He sees the the Mexican Revolution as a psycho cultural event and also as a search for authenticity.
Emiliano Zapata as a revolutionary embodies the return to the past because he supports indigenous ways.
*` Paz doesn't talk about practical problems such as the types of taxation.
Paz sees the Mexican revolution as a surge into our own identity.