ABSTRACT
Juan Rulfo's work offers an intriguing example of the role played by place and space in artistic expression generally and in literature in particular. The topic of spatiality, undertaking an exploration of how such notions play out in Rulfo's creative world may appear at first to be a project lacking the human touch and potentially one with limited value. It is worth noting, however, that critics have often zoned in on precisely the issues of place and space as key themes in the Mexican author's work. In order to examine the interrelationship between spatiality and the work of Rulfo, this chapter focuses on four key dimensions of the space-literature relationship. The dimensions being referred to are categorized as follows: the philosophical dimension; the psychological dimension; the dimension of plasticity; the dimension centred on the concept of power. The chapter focuses on most renowned texts in Rulfo's oeuvre, the short story collection El Llano en llamas and the novel Pedro Páramo.
