A boca de jarro y a quemarropa: (El llano en llamas de Juan Rulfo)

Abstract

I suggest that the assassin narrators in El Llano en llamas —mythical, lawless place where none and nothing survive— speak the truth, but cannot be trusted. On the other hand, Juan Rulfo’s “real” lies may well be suspect, but not his literary lies, which are a matter of faith, worthy of trust. Through these “untrustworthy narrators”, he created the possibility of exploring the relationship between Rulfo as writer and those narrators. Untrustworthiness, “Rulfian insinuations” and literary lies help us distinguish between dependability and subjectivity in these short stories narrated point blank.