Transatlantic Literary Networks during the Cold War: Emir Rodríguez Monegal, Reader for Gallimard

Abstract

In this paper, I propose to address the issue of transatlantic networks and the circulation of literary paradigms between Latin America and Europe. I will focus on a relevant actor from the time of the well-known and still controversial 'boom' of Latin American narrative, within the context of the Cold War (Franco 2002, Sorensen 2007, Alburquerque 2010). This was a key moment in the internationalization of Latin American writers, as José Donoso underlined in Historia personal del 'boom' (1972, 1983). Donoso highlighted some names that served as nodes, such as Carlos Fuentes, who played an important role, thanks to his extraordinary and natural handling of informal networks (Gras 2015). Among these names that had a specific weight in the process of international recognition of the 'boom', Donoso also highlights the figure of the Uruguayan critic Emir Rodríguez Monegal (1921-1985), to whom I will devote these pages. I will present a very specific¿and even anecdotal¿example: the reading reports that Rodríguez Monegal wrote for the prestigious French publishing house Gallimard over a single year, 1967. I will also analyze the relative influence of a recognized critic in the configuration of a publisher's catalog. This exemplifies his ability to direct, in some way, the attention of the French public to a handful of Latin American writers, based on his suggestions and proposals for translation. In doing this, I also contribute to an understanding of the decision-making mechanisms of a publisher of the magnitude of Gallimard, which led to undertaking (or not) an expensive and risky translation process.