Transitory literature or 'Brave New Text'? a comparative analysis of José Agustín's work

Abstract

This paper presents an aspect of an ongoing research project on the changing nature of the text in the works of the Onda literary movement in Mexico in the mid to late 1960s. The works analysed in this article are the stories 'La tumba' (1963) and '¿Cuál es la onda?' (1968) by José Agustín. The aim of the paper is to examine the triad of the creation/destruction/recreation of the text by identifying the changing roles played by the narrator(s) and the dissolution of the protagonists. The analysis also addresses multiple transcultural influences on the two texts and determines whether the conflicting combination thereof leads to the complete destruction of the text or the appearance of a new narrative form.