What do you think?
Rate this book


A partir de la aparición de Pedro Páramo, en marzo de 1955, Rulfo escribe su segunda novela, El gallo de oro. Ambientada en el mundo de las peleas de gallos y concebida como proyecto cinematográfico, probablemente se trate de la obra menos conocida del autor mexicano. No obstante ese desconocimiento, la valoración literaria está al mismo nivel que Pedro Páramo y Llano en Llamas.
RM publica esta edición especial de El gallo de oro con dos textos críticos de José Carlos González Boixo y Douglas J. Weatherford, sobre la naturaleza literaria de esta narración, a la que se incorporan otros relatos que la complementan. El guión cinematográfico de "La fórmula secreta", dos relatos tempranos de Juan Rulfo: "La vida no es muy seria en sus cosas" y "Un pedazo de noche", e igualmente el que lleva por título "Castillo de Teayo". Asimismo, se incluye una carta de Rulfo a su esposa, Clara Aparicio, en la que Rulfo hace una dura reflexión sobre la naturaleza de un sistema económico desalmado. Por último, el lector encontrará nueve textos que aparecieron originalmente en la colección de textos "Los cuadernos de Juan Rulfo", edición que se encuentra agotada.
206 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1980



"This letter is born out of an immense indignation that they've made me endure. Sometime later I'll tell you the source of that indignation. How it made me feel is what I'm trying to explain for now. And my conclusion is that a person should live in that place where he feels happiest. Life is short and then we are buried for such a long time." (139)A common misconception is that Juan Rulfo produced only two works: the novel Pedro Páramo, and the collection of stories The Plain in Flames. In fact, he wrote a second novel, The Golden Cockerel, which is included in this collection—along with several other stories, film scripts, and a letter to his beloved Clara (from which I quoted). I wasn’t expecting these writings to be nearly as good as Rulfo's two classic works, which are brilliant; and, in fact, they weren't. However, they were better than I expected. I managed to make it through the gory and depressing details of cockfighting and myriad other depiction of violence, which are really not my thing. His writing makes you read on all the same.