The Mangy Parrot

El Periquillo Sarniento was written by José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, a Mexican writer and journalist often called 'El Pensador Mexicano.' Serialization of the novel began in 1816, making it widely regarded as the first novel written and published in Latin America.

The novel follows Pedro Sarmiento, nicknamed 'Periquillo Sarniento,' as he moves through a series of failed occupations and misadventures in colonial New Spain. Written in the picaresque tradition, it satirizes the social classes, corruption, and moral failings of early nineteenth-century Mexican society while ultimately delivering a reformist message.

It is widely recognized as the first novel published in Latin America and a foundational text of Mexican literature. The work provides a detailed, satirical portrait of colonial society in the years just before Mexican independence and helped establish a tradition of prose fiction in the region.

The novel is a picaresque work, modeled on the Spanish tradition of Lazarillo de Tormes and other rogue narratives in which a lower-class protagonist recounts his life of trickery and survival episode by episode. Fernández de Lizardi adapted this European genre to the specific social landscape of colonial Mexico.