The Institutionalization of Literary Theory in Argentina and its Narratives

Abstract

These paper intends to characterize two key moments in the process of institutionalization of literary theory as a discipline at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and, due to its impact, in the Argentine universities in a broader sense: the ephemeral experience of 1973-1974 within the framework of the «cátedras nacionales» of the Universidad Nacional y Popular de Buenos Aires, and the seminar «Algunos Problemas de Teoría Literaria» dictated by Josefina Ludmer in 1985 in the middle of «primavera democrática» and refounding of the career of Letras. From a reading of the works of Leonardo Funes (2009) and Annick Louis (2015) on these two emblematic experiences, we propose to question the hegemonic interpretations about them, as well as the possibility of grounding in historical narratives of this type a certain guidelines regarding the present and future of literary theory in our country.