A book Burning plain, by the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo, was printed on September 18, 1953. For this reason, the publishing house RM and the Juan Rulfo Foundation published an edition for the 70th anniversary of the publication of this volume, which was central to Latin American literature. and which has the consequences of the Mexican revolution as a background. The edition is excellent: it comes in hardcover (although the volume is almost weightless), it maintains the final text established by experts, the size and font of the letters are very legible, the spacing is loose, the paper allows for good color printing…

As a plus, this book includes a facsimile of the first magazine appearance of the story that gives the book its title and, at the end, images of the covers of Rulfo’s books translated into other languages. I have no doubt that this book has a commercial purpose, but at the same time, it is commendable that a market is developing around an art like this gem of seventeen stories that has marked generations of readers around the planet. ., because these reprints form new readers and build a culture of tradition that is very decisive for our future.

Lord of terror

And so, why not celebrate in a big way the birthdays of novels, storybooks and poetry, plays, music, sculpture, films and paintings that were notable and set the course for what followed? Just to frame us in the 70th anniversary year Burning plainhere we could praise – as it should be, due to the importance of the author and her narrative work – the 50th anniversary of the novel Bruna, Soroche and uncles, writer from Quito Alicia Yánez Cossío. Or we could have celebrated the 60th anniversary of the book’s publication in 2022 Krelko and other storiesGuayaquil master Miguel Donos Pareja, which was the beginning of a fruitful and meaningful literary work.

In 2022, we were also able to remember several anniversaries: the 70th of the first exhibition of paintings by Guayas master Enrique Tábara; 60 most represented The house of what they will say, José Martínez Queirolo from Guayaquil. And so. But this year 2024, we could largely remember the 100 years since the release of the film Atahualpa’s treasureAugusto San Miguel from Guayaquil, according to many our first national film (the film has not been found, but the newspaper reviews of the time enable the reconstruction of that artistic event).

Cecilia Ansaldo

And only in the field of literature we will have other anniversaries: 90th Huasipungo, Jorge Icaza from Quito; 90 Los Sangurimas, José de la Cuadra born in Guayaquil; 50 the remarkable warlike role of Quito-born Lupe Rumazo (her narrative has earned recognition as it has recently been republished by Seix Barral); 40 novels Old Faces in the Mirror, by Francisco Proaño Arandi… In the field of history is the 30th anniversary of the History of the Ecuadorian Liberal Revolution, by Enrique Ayala Mora. These examples are just an example of the need to restore the great works of our authors. (OR)