Señas de identidad [Marks of Identity] is a thrilling, ironic, trenchantly pessimistic, brilliant novel…. (p. 193)

[It] is a work of total desperation, a pessimistic vision, a novelatestimonio, presenting a startlingly new kind of Realism, but above all, a work of art faithful to the contemporary narrative and its new conception…. Goytisolo feels every Spanish novelist has a distinct social mission—his is not to let anyone forget what happened in Spain….

Señas de identidad has been praised internationally. (p. 195)

On the other side of the coin, Señas has been accused of having flaws, essentially because of the great imbalance between its themes and real experience, its tendency towards idealizations based on fictions rather than true knowledge based upon fact (especially with reference to Spanish political questions), and Goytisolo's imprecise use of language, replete with errors. Goytisolo has acknowledged there was an excessive concern (or preoccupation...