Stories of Famous Mexican Author Being Carted Around the Land of His Birth

A schoolteacher driving an old car is carting the stories of a famous Mexican writer around the farms and villages of southern Jalisco state, with the intention of paying homage to the author in the land of his birth while raising people’s enthusiasm about reading his works.

Jose Luis Santana, creator of the project “La Carreta en el Llano” (The Cart on the Plains) told EFE that the idea to dramatize Juan Rulfo’s stories began a year and a half ago, and is arousing more interest as the May 16 centennial of the writer-photographer’s birth approaches.

“I started thinking about how to honor Juan Rulfo on the 100th anniversary of his birth and it occurred to me to do what I call ‘La Carreta en el Llano,’” the teacher said before beginning one of his shows.

Santana teaches elementary and high school and has been an admirer “since adolescence” of Rulfo’s literature, which he has taught children and teens in the Sayula municipality and other towns in southern Jalisco that the author wrote about.

The idea of the “cart” arose as a reminder of people’s mode of transport back in Rulfo’s time and also as an allusion to his vintage automobile.

“Carts were used for hauling materials to build houses, for transporting the stones, the sand – they were the forerunners of the today’s cargo trucks,” Santana said, adding that his project consists of carting literature from one place to another.

With no official support but with unbridled enthusiasm, the teacher is taking Rulfo’s stories beyond the classroom and into the streets, particularly to the more remote settlements of the region.

For Santana, the street is the ideal place for people to become acquainted with Rulfo’s stories, because it makes it easier to identify with them.