Parménides García Saldaña: <i>Like a Rolling Stones</i>

Abstract

Despite being referred to in passing at almost every mention of Mexican Onda literature from the 1960s, the work of Parménides García Saldaña (1944-1982) has garnered scarce critical attention. His work, as is the case with other writers of the Onda literary movement, is notable as being one of the first to be deeply influenced by the effects of globalization; particularly by rock music and culture, and more specifically, the Rolling Stones. Though he has several literary models from which he draws loosely, notably Arthur Rimbaud and the Beat Generation (most specifically William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch (1959)), the overarching influence in his only novel, Pasto verde is undoubtedly the Rolling Stones. The references to the group, specific songs of theirs, and their iconoclastic way of being serve not only evoke the era in which the novel takes place, but also serve as key semantic elements within the experimental text. The use of the Rolling Stones song, “Satisfaction” in the text serves as a guide to understanding the narrator’s psyche and view of the subjective world he is textually constructing. The narrator, who shares many similarities with García Saldaña himself, can be read as a textual construction of the author himself and his view of his own chaotic reality: replete with the hopes, projections, and disappointments experienced by the García Saldaña in the era.