Ha ido ganando prestigio

[Michael30000]

Hola a todos,

La frase en cuestión es del libro Tinta invisible de Javier Peña.

Como Kurt en aquellas cenas familiares, Katherine Mansfield también destacaba por su capacidad para desconcertar en las conversaciones; Virginia Woolf admiraba su ingenio y desenvoltura. Hablamos probablemente de las dos mejores escritoras modernistas, pero, aunque la figura de la neozelandesa ha ido ganando prestigio, es indudable que Woolf ocupa un lugar preeminente en la historia de la literatura. Sin embargo, Virginia siempre se sintió empequeñecida cuando estuvo al lado de Mansfield.

Katherine Mansfield died in 1923.

What does the author mean by using ha ido (Pretérito Perfecto) + gerund?
That Katherine (her books to be exact) has been gaining prestige in the present day, i.e. around the time when the author was writing his book? The book was written several years ago.

Thank you.

[aleCcowaN]

Yes. The verbal periphrasis ir + gerundio describes a gradual process or development of the action the verb in gerundio implies.

Besides its temporal aspect, the tense used points to whether it is the beginning, the end or the process itself what matters.

In the example, ha ido ganando points to a process ending at the present time in the terms of the text, as the mentioned author's prestige has been growing gradually until reaching its maximum by the time of the writing.

[Michael30000]

Thank you, aleCcowaN.