Best Short Stories by Juan Rulfo

Juan Rulfo is one of the most influential voices in Latin American literature, despite the fact his body of work is comparatively small. His stories – set in the dry, forgotten towns of rural Mexico – explore themes of death, memory, and violence with intensity. 

In this list, we’ll take a look at the short stories from Rulfo’s El llano en llamas.

You Don’t Hear Dogs Barking? — a father carries his wounded son toward a doctor, revealing years of frustration, resentment, and familial duty

Because We’re So Poor — a young narrator recounts his family’s escalating hardships against the backdrop of a relentless, unusual rain

Tell Them Not to Kill Me! — Juvencio Nava desperately tries to avoid execution for a murder he committed forty years earlier during a land feud

They Have Given Us the Land — four men traverse barren land given by the government while confronting injustice and despair

Talpa — a man and his lover take her ailing husband to Talpa pretending to seek a cure, only for him to die, leaving them bound in guilt and shame

At Daybreak — Esteban tends his herd at dawn, only to wake accused of killing his boss as the town of San Gabriel shrouds itself in fog

Anacleto Morones — a lecherous “holy man” is remembered by the very women he exploited

Paso del Norte — a son asks his father to watch over his family as he heads north in search of better opportunities

Macario — a mentally impaired orphan narrates his life of hunger, fear, and guilt while being protected and exploited by his godmother and a servant girl

The Burning Plain — a band of revolutionaries perpetuates the violence of the Mexican Revolution, showing how brutality outlives its instigators

Remember — the narrator recalls the life of Urbano Gómez and the complicated dynamics of his family

The Man — a quiet manhunt unfolds along a riverbank as murderer and tracker move toward their inevitable end

La Cuesta de las Comadres — a villager recalls how the Torrico brothers terrorized their neighbors and met their downfall after driving everyone away

Luvina — the narrator reflects on the desolate village of Luvina, depicting its oppressive poverty and the sense of hopelessness that seems to consume everyone who lives there

The Night They Left Him Alone — soldier Feliciano Ruelas falls asleep after an ambush on federal troops