For over three decades, Anuario de Letras Modernas has been the main disseminator of the academic work of the Department of Modern Language and Literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The journal began in the early 1980s, when the Dean of the School of Philosophy and Literature, Abelardo Villegas, suggested that said Department have a yearly publication that showcased the work of its academics and their research interests. Professor Federico Patan, the Head of the School at that time, consolidated the project and, after consulting with the School’s faculty members, he approved the creation of an Editorial Committee. The first Committee members included academics such as Elisabeth Siefer, the director of the first volume published in 1983, Flora Botton, Renata von Hansffstengel, Josefina Iturralde, Angelina Martín del Campo, Marlene Rall, Anuanziata Rossi, and Federico Patán himself.

 

The spirit of the journal remains, even though its interests and approaches have changed through the years. Research is no longer an activity that is “subjected to the requirements of teaching,” and it has become an essential part of academic endeavor. The intellectual vitality of those who are part of UNAM’s Department of Modern Languages is evident from the first volumes and is still palpable today. Academics have faced the dynamism that has characterized literary and cultural production in the last decade as well as the various critical approaches that have transformed the study of literature. Perhaps the most significant change has been the very conceptualization of its subject matter since English, French, German, and Italian are no longer perceived as representative of “four distinct linguistic communities,” but as a medium for literary expression throughout the world. This new understanding was consolidated when Portuguese Studies was incorporated into the Department’s undergraduate program, and it is also apparent in the contents of this journal.

 

The thematic plurality and varied perspectives that inaugurated the journal are still part of its trademarks, but its structure reflects the theoretical turn that profoundly changed literary studies. The interest in comparative literature and reception theory that was apparent in the first volumes of the journal gave way to the inclusion of articles with other approaches and perspectives regarding what constitutes contemporary critical theory. A similar change has occurred in the literary corpus, for there is now a greater presence of new European, Asian, African, and American literary text that alternate with more “traditional” literary production, which is directly affected by contemporary readings and interpretations that are, in turn, supported by the most recent theoretical frames.