Abstract
Known in Brazil for the novels Festa no covil (2012), Se vivêssemos em um lugar normal (2013), Te vendo um cachorro (2015) e Ninguém precisa acreditar em mim (2018), all edited by Companhia das Letras, the Mexican writer Juan Pablo Villalobos now reaches the pages of Revista Alea through this translation of his story “Memoria Fantasma”. In this short story, Juan Pablo Villalobos, the narrator of this tribute to Juan Rulfo, moves around suspicious deaths, an interrupted PhD, conspiracy theories, and the academic and editorial worlds. Villalobos’ humorous ability puts together these seemingly distant matters, dragging the reader, sometimes in only one paragraph, from a light laughter to speculations on literature and its relations with tradition and filiation. After all, as the short story’s narrator wonders, how can a writer from Jalisco write under the shadow of an image like Juan Rulfo’s?
Keywords
Juan Pablo Villalobos; Tribute; Juan Rulfo; Memory