2023-08-29 20:19:14
The mythical publishing house Cátedra, with which generations of readers have been trained by the publication of annotated classics, celebrates half a century of life. Founded in 1973 and awarded the National Prize for the best Cultural Editorial Work, it has broadened its horizons, extending its interests to various disciplines in the humanities, from linguistics, art, philosophical essays and contemporary thought to music, feminism, communication and cinema.
In its 50 years of life, its most emblematic collection has been Letras Hispánicas, with almost 900 titles published in pocket format and its typical black cover. In it, since 1973, works by classical and contemporary authors, both Spanish and Latin American, have come to light. Its careful editions, by prestigious philologists and literary historians, are the hallmark of the house.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the label, owned by the Anaya group, publishes eight landmark titles from its career in the ‘Five decades’ collection, such as ‘Así que pasan cinco años’, by García Lorca; the selection ‘Poemas de las letras universales’, edited by Francisco Ruiz Casanova; ‘Nada’, by Carmen Laforet, and ‘Palomar’, by Italo Calvino, among others. Already before, in May, the publisher had released unfading books: ‘The tree of knowledge’, by Pío Baroja, and ‘Pedro Páramo’, by Juan Rulfo, are some that also appear in bookstores to commemorate the anniversary.
«I will not forget the first Cátedra book I read: ‘Great expectations’. Since then, he has never let them down.”
Cátedra, which brings out some 80 novelties a year, in addition to numerous reissues and updated editions of its collection, combines the academic vocation with the general interest. For its current director, Josune García, Cátedra «collects the legacy of different philosophical and thought currents, participates in the debate of ideas that concern us and attends to the impact of new technologies on thought, life and manifestations of the actual society”.
In 1983 the publishing house created the Letras Universales collection, designed by Diego Lara, as a complement and natural extension of Letras Hispánicas. Classical and modern authors coexist in this collection: Homer, Dante, Shakespeare or Molière, alongside Faulkner, Calvino, Bernhard or Modiano.
The ‘Feminismos’ collection, directed by Alicia Puleo, has been a benchmark for social and political debate since 1990. The study of women over time, the way in which their identities have been built in the private space of the family and in the public space of work and politics, are topics that are frequently addressed.
In the last years of the 80s of the last century, Cátedra began to publish the rock and pop collection, which was intended to offer fans of these genres texts that highlighted the cultural nature of music in today’s society. . The collection was published until the early years of the 21st century and was directed by María Calonge.
«I will not forget the first Cátedra book I read: ‘Great expectations’. Since then, it has never disappointed them: careful translations, illuminating prologues, reference essays, editions that are already classics”, says the writer Irene Vallejo.
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