Introduction: Generation X: Identity, Technology, and Storytelling

Abstract

When a new cast of Spanish authors appeared on the market in the early 1990s, young readers flocked to bookstores. Ray Loriga, the rock and roll novelist. Benjamín Prado, the grunge author. José Ángel Mañas, the punk writer. Lucía Etxebarria, the Spice Girl. Their works spoke to their fans, but their unconventional writing styles, steeped in colloquial speech and popular media culture, were not well received by Spanish critics. Rock and roll? Grunge? Punk? How could the subcultural dynamics of these musical forms be reconciled with the aesthetic expectations and values of the literary canon?

The form of the traditional novel is a metaphor for a society that no longer exists.

—Ronald Sukenick