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 (Click for larger image) 
Rulfo, Juan (Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden).
JUAN RULFO LETRAS E IMAGENES ("JUAN RULFO TEXTS & IMAGES") .
Mexico City, Mexico:
Editorial R. M. , S. A. De C. V. ,
2002.
Hardcover.
First Edition/First Printing.
176 pages.
Fine.
Landmark retrospective collection of photographs with accompanying texts. One of the most important photography books of the new century. Published in a small and limited print run as a hardcover original only. The true first. Should not be confused with the American title called "Juan Rulfo's Mexico", which is largely based on it. A splendid production by Editorial R. M. : Regular-sized volume format. Gray silk cloth boards with metallic-silver titles embossed on cover and spine, as issued. Photographic reproduction pasted on the recessed center. Photographs and texts by Juan Rulfo. Glassine wraparound band with black titles, as issued. Printed on thick coated stock paper in Mexico City to the very highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents in the most handsome edition possible the photographic output of one of Mexico's greatest writers. There is a complementarity between the photographs and the literary works: Rulfo wrote what was in effect an autobiography-in-fiction, whose roots are the rural, peasant life that were his own humble beginnings. To reduce his work to documentary realism is tempting but a grave injustice because his was a poetic sensibility which helped bring about "Magical Realism", the dominant movement of 20th-century Latin-American literature. It also exalted the simple, honest photographs he took of his native land and his beloved people. "Pedro Paramo", his novel, is one of "Magical Realism" 's touchstones, an achievement that Rulfo was never able to surpass. He decided to undergo psychoanalysis. While the latter empowered some artists, it destroyed Rulfo's intuitive genius, and made him destroy most of his works-in-progress. At his deathbed, he instructed his heirs to destroy what he had not already destroyed. These surviving photographs were taken mostly from the 1940's and 1950's, and are imbued with the same hushed and mystical poetic power that makes his short stories and great novel so compelling. This power is secreted rather than imposed. Hence it is easy to see the photographs as nothing more than a documentary record. Rulfo worked exclusively in black-and-white as he travelled throughout Mexico. "His goal was to present what he encountered: Groups of farmers in prayer, women at market, men on horseback, and views of mountains and ruins. The results are a stupendous legacy" (Smithsonian Institution). Yes, and in so doing, he magnified what he saw and photographed with his genius and love, as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans did with their "documents" of Latin America. One of the few writers the world has seen who was also a great photographer. A masterly retrospective, this is a "must-have" title for Juan Rulfo collectors. This is an Import title, had a relatively small and limited print run, and has been out-of-print for some time. This is the only copy available online and is in unusually fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. A rare copy thus. Winner of the Cervantes Prize in 1985, the most prestigious honor for writers in the Spanish language. One of the greatest writer/artists of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JUAN RULFO TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 9685208050. $200.00 |
