Editorial

In the latest years, La Palabra journal has become an increasingly important referent in the field of literary studies in Colombia. Thanks to the continuous work of professor Witton Becerra –who attained the indexing of the journal in the Colciencias Bibliographical Index as well as several international data bases-the published articles have improved in quality, dissemination and impact in the national and international academic context. For this reason, the task that I initiated some months ago as editor of this journal has not been easy, nevertheless I have assumed it with great enthusiasm and absolute dedication in order to continue down the path of progress and quality.

For issue 26, we are pleased to present 10 articles that have passed all the peer-review filters. These articles are divided into four sections according to the interests of our authors in literary research. The first section is dedicated to two studies on the topic of afro-descendants and miscegenation in one Colombian novel and several travel narratives of the XIX century. These studies confront serious issues regarding the history of marginalization and cruelty of African enslaved persons and their descendants in our continent, as well as the literature and culture of African heritage.

The second section involves studies in XX century Colombian novel. Two classics of the literature of our country are included: one work by García Márquez and one novel that has nothing to do with magical realism. These articles reflect the narrative counterpoint of the Colombian novel during the second half of the last century. In Manuel Cabello's article, El amor en los tiempos del cólera [Love in the Times of Cholera] enters into conversation with the great work by Cervantes, establishing a comparison and influence analysis between the leading author of Spanish literature and the most renowned Colombian writer. In Óscar Osorio's article, we find a comparative study between two highly related artistic dimensions: literature and cinema. The literary work La virgen de los sicarios [Our Lady of Assassins] is seen in the light of its film adaptation by Barbet Schroeder. This analysis allows us to understand narrative distance, and the possibilities of each art form.

The third section presents five articles on Latin American literature, including novel, poetry and short story. Mano de obra [Labor Force], a work that has caused passionate discussion in the field the Chilean Contemporary Novel, is read from the point of view of the reflection on the loss of memory and ideology in late capitalism. Arreola's well known Bestiario [Bestiary] and Todas las familias felices [All the Happy Families] by Carlos Fuentes are studied and demonstrate the humanness of this collection of beasts, and the way in which the Cartesian subject is deconstructed in the work of the Mexican novelist and diplomat. We close this section with a reflection on the way in which Leopoldo Lugones adopts and promotes the work Martin Fierro as a foundational text of Argentinian literature, and a very interesting analysis on the double in the work of Alejandra Pizarnik.

In the final section, we present an article which is the result of a creative research thesis project by a student from the Masters of Literature program at our university. It is necessary to highlight the dedicated work and quality that can we have observed in La Palabra journal articles published by students in their last year of this post graduate degree. Regardless of the youth of this new Masters program, the achievements of students in terms of publication in peer-reviewed journals is an important result that accounts for the quality of their literary and research training.

Finally, I must say that it is a great satisfaction to bring together articles of such great research quality in this issue of La Palabra journal. 8 of these 10 articles are written by international authors who believed in our journal. This demonstrates the wide dissemination of La Palabra journal in Europe and our American continent. We hope our journal will disseminate as far as other continents soon. It must be highlighted that the majority of articles in this issue are a product of doctoral research, or projects by researchers with a broad trajectory. We will continue advancing down this path and contributing to literary research in our country.

Adrián Farid Freja de la Hoz
Editor