JUAN JOSÉ ARREOLA: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, WORKS, PHRASES - LITERATURE - 2025

Juan José Arreola Zúñiga (1918-2001) was a Mexican writer, editor and academic, who has been considered one of the most important writers of the 20th century in Latin America. His writings spanned various genres of literature, including essays, poetry, and short stories.

Arreola's work was framed within magical realism, that is, it showed the reality of everyday life as something unreal or illusory. In addition, her literary creation was characterized by being reflective, deep and having a mischievous and playful language.

Juan José Arreola. Source: sinaloaarchivohistorico, via Wikimedia Commons

One of the most important and recognized works of the Mexican writer was the set of stories Confabulario. The text included more than twenty stories, loaded with cunning and intelligence. Arreola, through his pen and letters, was worthy of several recognitions and awards.

Biography

Birth and family

Juan José Arreola was born on September 21, 1918 in Jalisco, specifically in Ciudad Guzmán, previously called Zapotlán el Grande. He was born into a middle-class family, his parents were Felipe Arreola and Victoria Zúñiga. The writer grew up in an abundant family, surrounded by fourteen siblings.

Arreola Studios

Arreola began studying in 1921, when she was three years old, at an institute for nuns in her hometown called San Francisco. It was from her years of academic training that she felt a passion for books and literature. In 1930 she entered the world of printing and bookbinding.

Upon completing his high school studies, in 1936, he went to Mexico City determined to study at the Escuela Teatral de Bellas Artes. At the same time he did various jobs to support himself. In 1939 he worked as an actor with his countryman, the writer Xavier Villaurrutia.

Arreola marriage

Juan José Arreola married in 1940 with Sara Sánchez, who was his main support and his life partner. As a result of this relationship, three children were born, named Claudia, Orso and Fuensanta Arreola Sánchez. The couple stayed together for more than fifty years.

First published story

Juan José Arreola left his studies at the Escuela Teatral de Bellas Artes in 1939 to dedicate himself to acting in a theater company. The following year he returned to Zapotlán, and it was there that his first Christmas Dream was published in the publication El Vigía.

Jalisco Pubic Library, Juan José Arreola. Source: Tomjc.55, via Wikimedia Commons

In his native land he devoted himself to writing, theater and teaching at a secondary school. During that time her health was affected by a disease in the intestines and a nervous breakdown. Then, in 1943, she wrote She did good while she lived.

Between the press and the theater

Between 1943 and 1945 Arreola worked as a columnist for the newspaper El Occidental. In 1944 he met the French actor and theater director Louis Jouvet in Jalisco, who helped him greatly by allowing him to obtain a scholarship at the French Institute of Latin America.

Pierre Renoir. Source: Réunion des musées nationaux, via Wikimedia Commons

The following year he began to edit the magazine Pan together with the writers Antonio Alatorre and Juan Rulfo. Then he traveled to Paris with the support of Jouvet, attended various plays and met actors such as Pierre Renoir and Jean Louis Barrault.

I return to Mexico

While he was in Paris, Arreola suffered health problems and had to return to Mexico in 1946. He recovered, and began work at the Fondo de Cultura Económica as a corrector, in addition to receiving a scholarship at the Colegio de México.

The College of Mexico. Source: Ar.rosales, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1949 he published his first book, which he titled: Various invention. The following year the writer won a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. During the early 1950s, Juan José Arreola also dedicated himself to translating works by authors such as Èmile Male, Alfred Mátraux, and George Sadoul.

Publication of

In 1952 Juan José Arreola published Confabulario, his most recognized work. It was composed of several stories, where creativity, intelligence and cunning were present. Thanks to this work, the writer received the Jalisco Prize for Literature the following year.

Director of a theater company

Arreola's taste and passion for the theater made him in 1956 the director of a theater company, which he himself called Poetry aloud. The group functioned under the protection of the department of culture of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Juan José Arreola undertook the task of representing pieces by authors of the stature of Eugène Ionesco, Federico García Lorca and Octavio Paz, through the fusion of the new with the traditional. There was in his theater an impeccable development of aesthetics, as well as the predominance of the conservative.

Last years and death

During the last years of his life, Juan José Arreola dedicated himself to carrying out an intense cultural activity. In 1959 he served as director of the La Casa del Lago culture dissemination center. He also excelled as a teacher, teaching at the Centro Mexicano de Escritores and the Instituto de Bellas Artes.

Bust of Juan José Arreola, Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco. Source: irengs9, via Wikimedia Commons

Between letters and culture, Arreola developed a life full of satisfactions. However, his life began to fade due to hydrocephalus, until he died on December 3, 2001, in Jalisco. He was eighty-three years old, and he died surrounded by his loved ones.

Style

Juan José Arreola's work was characterized by having a cultured, dynamic and at the same time profound language. In addition, a brief and concise style was common in his literary work, while at the same time he gave his texts a particular sarcasm with humor and irony, where he highlighted his intelligence and creativity.

Arreola's style was influenced by his early reading of authors such as Jorge Luis Borges, Franz Kafka, and Charles Baudelaire. His capacity for reading comprehension and writing led him to work with various literary genres, including poetry, essays and short stories.

Conciseness as a literary virtue

As was well stated before, one of the main characteristics of Arreola's work was conciseness; that is to say, the brief and concrete of his style. Such virtue allowed him to develop the most relevant aspects of his perception towards the human and everyday.

It was that ability to be precise and to be brief, which led Juan José Arreola to be known. This is because his focus was on the magic of being, in its essence; hence his work was also framed within the characteristics of magical realism.

Core themes

As for the themes developed by Arreola in his work, one of the most prominent was love. But those related to human experiences, loneliness and the end of life were also common. In addition, he referred to the woman on many occasions in a mocking tone, and with a certain insensitivity.

Arreola Awards and Recognitions

- Jalisco Prize for Literature in 1953.

- Prize of the Dramatic Festival of the National Institute of Fine Arts in 1955.

- Xavier Villaurrutia Award in 1963, for La Feria.

- National Journalism Award in 1977.

- Appointed Official of Arts and Letters of the Government of France in 1977.

- Azteca de Oro Award in 1975, as revelation of the year on television.

- National Prize of Sciences and Arts in 1979.

- Recognition of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1987, for its contribution in art and in the extension of culture of said house of studies.

- Jalisco Prize for Letters in 1989.

- Juan Rulfo International Literature Prize in 1990.

- Juan Rulfo International Prize for Latin American and Caribbean Literature in 1992.

- Alfonso Reyes International Award in 1995.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Colima in 1995.

Plays

Stories

Various invention

This work by Juan José Arreola was a reflection of the taste that the Mexican writer had for the literature of Spain, especially that of the authors of the well-known Golden Age. Hence, the title was taken from Varia imagination, a writing by Luis of Góngora.

In this work Arreola developed various forms of writing, from traditional to innovative, while analyzing various literary themes. The book went through several editions. The former had 18 titles, while the latter only had four.

Conspiracy

It was one of Arreola's most important works, in which he developed a prose writing loaded with cunning and creativity. At the same time, irony and playful components were present. The author managed to condense with this book writings that were extensive at first.

The work had more than twenty stories, among which stood out: "Nabónides", "Pablo", "The lighthouse", "The silence of God", "Announcement", "Letter to a shoemaker who wrongly composed some shoes", "A trained woman", "The prodigious milligram", and "Terrestrial foods", among others.

Fragment of "The silence of God"

“I think this is not customary: leaving open letters on the table for God to read.

… Circumstances demand a desperate act of me and I place this letter before eyes that see everything. I have regressed since childhood, always postponing this hour when I finally fall… I need to speak and trust myself… I want to believe that someone is going to pick it up, that my letter will not float in the void… ”.

Palindrome

This work by Juan José Arreola was made up of a set of stories or tales, developed with sagacity and creativity, where the reading can be done from the beginning to the end and vice versa. Such structure brought dynamism to the stories.

The author gives the reader two possibilities regarding the content of the stories, the good and the bad. Here are the titles of the stories that made up Palíndroma:

- "Story of the two, what did you dream of?"

- "Happy homes".

- "To enter the garden."

- "Sleep it."

- "Balada".

- "Three days and an ashtray."

- "Starring all people".

- "Klein bottle".

- "The hymen of Mexico."

- "Prophylaxis".

- "Homemade recipe".

- "The dilemma".

- "Cycling".

- "Astronomy".

- "Doxographies".

Fragment of "Duermevela"

“A clear body moves cleanly in the sky. You start your engines and take off vertical. Already in full acceleration, it corrects its trajectory and engages with it in perigee.

He did a perfect calculation. It is a woman's body that follows an elliptical orbit like almost all… What to do? Fast breakfast and forget it forever at the office? Or stay in bed at the risk of losing your job…?

Bestiary

This work by Arreola also compiled several stories, where the author showed his ability to speak, with a shrewd and ingenious language. It was a caricatured comparison between animal and man, through the union of the essay and the poem as literary genres.

The stories that made up Bestiary were:

- "The axolotl".

- "The ostrich".

- "The giraffe".

- "The constrictor".

- "Toad".

- "The zebra".

- "The bison".

- "The rhinoceros".

- "The monkeys".

- "The seals".

- "Acuatic birds".

- "Elephant".

- "Prey birds".

- "The owl".

- "The hippo".

- "Deer".

- "Insectiated".

- "The carabao".

Fragment of "The carabao"

And meditate long before the hordes led by the Hound of Tartaros, the western plains were invaded by huge herds of cattle.

The extremities of this contingent were included in the new landscape, gradually losing the characteristics that the contemplation of the carabao now returns to us: angular development of the hindquarters and deep implantation of the tail, the end of a projecting spine that recalls the low line. of the pagodas; long, straight coat; general stylization of the figure that is somewhat close to the reindeer and the okapi ”.

essays

- The word education (1973).

- And now the woman (1975).

- Inventory (1976).

Brief description of the most representative trial

Inventory

It was a book that was produced from the articles published by the writer in the newspaper El Sol de México, during a year from 1975 to 1976. It was composed of one hundred and fifty writings, whose themes were related to different issues developed from knowledge of Arreola.

Novel

- The fair (1963).

Short description

The fair

It was the only novel by Juan José Arreola, in which he narrated the inconveniences experienced by the people of Zapotlán around the San José festivities. The writer did not use a main character and also did not use a traditional narrative style, but instead structured it into fragments.

Story plot

Arreola located the story after the Mexican Revolution, in the town of Guzmán de Jalisco, formerly called Zapotlán, the city where the author was born. The story was based on everything concerning the fairs, hence all the inhabitants were protagonists.

Structure of the novel

Arreola developed the story with circumstances in the past and present tense. At the same time, he structured it into two hundred and eighty-eight fragments that did not follow a certain length, that is, some were long and others were short.

The novel contains dialogues and monologues, but at the same time it does not have a defined narrator. The author played with the times of history, with the intention of locating the reader in different events; More than being a work of magical realism, its characteristics are manners and traditional.

Fragment

“He gave me the relationship, I dug and kept everything, it was not necessary to operate it but I operated it anyway, I did not want it to be operated and I was left with remorse, they are not made of pure wool, is it less sin than go with the women?… ”.

Other titles

- Total conspiracy (1952).

- Works by Juan José Arreola (1971).

- Personal conspiracy (1985).

- You I are oneself (1988).

Editorial works

- Eos. Magazine (1943).

- Pan. Magazine (1945).

- Those present (1954-1957).

- Notebooks of the Unicorn (1958).

- Mester. Magazine (1964).

Brief description of the most representative editorial works

Eos

The literary magazine Eos was one of the first that opened the doors to Juan José Arreola as editor and writer. He was one of its founders together with the author Arturo Rivas. The magazine was first circulated on July 30, 1943.

In addition to publicizing writers, the magazine also reviewed the appearance of new books. Likewise, he provided information on the teaching courses in relation to literature. It was in this publication that Arreola published the story She did good while she lived, for the first time.

The magazine was short-lived, since the same year in which it began to be published it also stopped circulating. This was due to a budget deficit that led to poor print quality, added to the absence of writers interested in the project.

Literary magazine

This magazine was edited by Arreola together with the writer Antonio Alatorre, which began to circulate on June 1, 1945. The pages of the publication were conducive to Juan José Arreola publishing some of his texts.

Some of the titles published by the author were: Fragments of a novel and The convert. In addition, writings of various Mexican intellectuals were published, as well as some of the French Paul Valéry; then Arreola became a collaborator after his trip to Paris.

The people that is here

It was one of Arreola's works as an editor, aimed at disseminating the writings of both nascent authors and those already known in order to maintain the literary movement of the fifties. The collection was also a tribute to the writer and editor Ignacio Cumplido.

Between 1954 and 1956, the edition published about fifty titles, which featured Julio Cortázar's Final dejuegos. The collection was later discontinued, which meant that eleven of the seventy-one total titles were not part of the collection.

Mester

Arreola's activity as editor was also evidenced with the publication of the Mester magazine, which came out of his literary workshop in May 1964. It was oriented towards cultural, artistic and literature themes; Although it started out on a quarterly basis, later its circulation was reduced, since there was not enough money.

The scarcity of economic resources only allowed twelve editions to come to light. However, that was not an impediment for the literary works of authors such as: Andrés González Pagés, Elsa Cross, José Agustín Ramírez, Elva Macías, Jorge Arturo Ojeda, among others to be made known.

Phrases

- “The abysses attract. I live on the edge of your soul. Leaning towards you, I probe your thoughts, I inquire into the germ of your actions ”.

- “The show begins when the female perceives a sufficient number of candidates. One by one we jump on it ”.

- "The teacher must simply be a communicating vessel and a means of transport that does not cloud the light that it tries to transmit."

- "Once natural needs are met, man feels a kind of emptiness that he tries to fill: hence the origin of all entertainment, from the simple game to the most egregious fruits of culture."

- “I distrust almost all contemporary literature. I live surrounded by classic and benevolent shadows that protect my writer's dream ”.

- “I'm afraid of falling, of looking in the mirror. But what I fear most is the winter of memory ”.

- “Chess is about a duel of one man against another, where what is the personality of the man is compromised. Each player fights against his inner enemy, which is his clumsiness or his discoveries ”.

- “One last melancholic confession. I have not had time to practice literature. But I have dedicated every possible hour to love her ”.

- "Man has a nostalgia for creation, he is not satisfied with living, but he also needs to create."

- “Chess is the way man conforms to quench his thirst, his nostalgia for infinity, to conform to waging war there in a limited space, but at the same time capable of accommodating infinity. What is infinity? The infinite complications that chess pieces create between themselves ”.

References

1. Juan José Arreola. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
2. Madrid, L. (2004-2019). Juan José Arreola. Spain: Cervantes Virtual Center. Recovered from: cvc.cervantes.es
3. Juan José Arreola. (S. f.). Cuba: Ecu Red. Recovered from: ecured.cu.
4. Juan José Arreola Zúñiga. (2013). (N / a): Writers Org. Recovered from: writers.org.
5. Juan José Arreola. (S. f.). (N / a): Lecturalia. Recovered from: lecturalia.com.