Transnational Itineraries of Juan Goytisolo's Marks of Identity: Editorial Processes, Translation, and Reception between Gallimard and Grove Press

Abstract

This article reconstructs the complex publishing history and transnational reception of Juan Goytisolo’s Señas de identidad (1966), analyzing the mediation processes that facilitated its publication in the United States under the countercultural imprint Grove Press. Based on the analysis of unpublished correspondence, the study unravels the arduous negotiations led by editor Richard Seaver, which were heavily conditioned by the institutional rivalry between Barney Rosset and Claude Gallimard, and by the author's economic urgency to settle debts in France. The text details how a competitive counteroffer from Doubleday catalyzed a substantial improvement in contractual terms, consolidating Goytisolo’s abandonment of social realism in favor of narrative experimentation within the anglophone market.

The study’s conclusions highlight the decisive role of translator Gregory Rabassa, whose English version, Marks of Identity, not only resolved linguistic challenges but operated as a canonization device that strategically integrated Goytisolo into the Latin American Boom phenomenon, aligning him aesthetically with figures such as Cortázar and García Márquez. Finally, the instability of the original text is addressed, examining how political and editorial pressures motivated the suppression of the chapter regarding Cuba. It is concluded that the definitive version of the novel is the hybrid result of market and diplomatic tensions, demonstrating how transnational itineraries shaped the writer's literary identity.