Juan Goytisolo is arguably Spain's foremost contemporary novelist. This book is one of the few major studies in English to examine all of his mature works, from "Senas de identidad" in 1966 to "Las semanas del jardin", published in 1997. It focuses on the interface between the thematic content of the novels and its formal expression, viewing this as the crucial nexus of their meaning. Goytisolo's writing is, in his own words, a commitment of myself for a transformation of the world. "The Poetics of Contagion" dissects the nature of the relationship between writer and reader to show how Goytisolo's political commitment is reflected in his work.