Editorial Mediation and Added Value: Jaime Saenz's Work From Social Networks of the Past

Abstract

This article offers a critical study of the place that Jaime Saenz occupies within the broader context of translated literatures to shed light on the construction of his image as a writer both in Bolivia and in the countries in which he has been translated. How is Saenz's work viewed from a global perspective? I propose a methodology that analyzes and visualizes web media to study Saenz's position vis-à-vis his Bolivian and Latin American peers within the local and global mediation scene. I read Saenz's work through a web media map that visualizes him diachronically within a framework that considers his production and reception by publishers, editors, translators, literary agents, critics and sponsors, in national and international contexts. In this article I focus on showing the editorial mediation processes of Saenz's work comparatively and in relation not only to literature, but to the broader cultural field, which includes the social sciences and audiovisual arts. The image of a writer that results from this process (dark, accursed, esoteric, and associated with a mystical Andean spirituality) adds symbolic value and  prestige to the author.  A web media analysis helps to visualize how this added value was created over time and within its socio-political contexts.