Viva Rockotitlán : The History of Rock Literature in Mexico

How rock music shaped Mexican literature from the mid-twentieth century to the present

Viva Rockotitlán examines how Mexican writers have incorporated rock music into novels, short stories, poetry, and journalism. Showing how rock serves as catalyst and inspiration for experimental and countercultural expression, Brian Price presents an unusual history of Mexican literature, one that highlights the political and cultural agency of young urban writers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The book situates rock writing within broader literary history, countercultural movements, youth cultures, transnational exchange, and aesthetic experiments, tracing its role during key moments in Mexico’s recent history. Price looks at rock literature that emerged from postrevolutionary culture in the 1950s, the student movement of the 1960s, repression of counterculture and social dissidence in the 1970s, the political turmoil of the 1980s, and the effects of globalization over the past three decades. This analysis shows how rock music impacted Mexican literature—and helped transform how Mexicans imagined themselves and their place in society.