José Luis Martínez Rodríguez (1918 in

Atoyac, Jalisco Atoyac Municipality is a municipality in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The administrative centre for the municipality is located in the town of Atoyac, Jalisco. Name Its name derives from the Nahuatl ''Atoya-k'', which means to "Place near the ...

) was a Mexican academic, diplomat, essayist, historian, bibliographer and editor. He was the director of the

Fondo de Cultura Económica Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE or simply "Fondo") is a Spanish language, non-profit publishing group, partly funded by the Mexican government. It is based in Mexico but it has subsidiaries throughout the Spanish-speaking world. It was founded in ...

from 1977 to 1982 and professor of literature with the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

Career

He became an Academic Numerary of the

Academia Mexicana de la Lengua The Academia Mexicana de la Lengua (variously translated as the Mexican Academy of Language, the Mexican Academy of the Language, the Mexican Academy of Letters, or glossed as the Mexican Academy of the Spanish Language; acronym AML) is the corr ...

in 1960. From 1980 to 2002 he was the Director and, in 2003, was named Honorary Director in

perpetuity A perpetuity is an annuity that has no end, or a stream of cash payments that continues forever. There are few actual perpetuities in existence. For example, the United Kingdom (UK) government issued them in the past; these were known as conso ...

. He was also a numerary at the

Academia Mexicana de la Historia The Academia Mexicana de la Historia (''Mexican Academy of History'', also known by the acronym AMH) is a national academy in Mexico, whose purpose is to promote and propagate historical studies within Mexico, conduct research into all aspects of t ...

(Chair 28), beginning in 1993,Academia Mexicana de Historia:Past Members of the Academy
and a corresponding member of the Academia Peruana de la Lengua and the

Academia Dominicana de la Lengua The Academia Dominicana de la Lengua (variously translated as the Dominican Academy of Language, the Dominican Academy of the Language, the Dominican Academy of Letters, or glossed as the Dominican Academy of the Spanish Language; acronym ADL) is ...

. From 1965 to 1970 he was Director general of the

Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes The Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL, en, National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature), located in the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, is the Mexican institution in charge of coordinating artistic and cultural ...

. In addition to his academic posts, he served as Mexico's representative at

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

for the year 1963-64 and was ambassador to Greece from 1971 to 1974. Among the many awards and honors he has received are the

National Prize for Arts and Sciences The National Prize for Arts and Sciences ( es, Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes) is awarded annually by the Government of Mexico in six categories. It is part of the Mexican Honours System and was established in 1945. The prize is a gold medal a ...

(''Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes'') for Literature and Linguistics, the

Alfonso Reyes International Prize The Alfonso Reyes International Prize is a Mexican award given for meritorious lifetime contributions to literary research and criticism. It was founded in 1972 by the economist turned author/critic, Francisco Zendejas and was named in honor of Alf ...

(''Premio Internacional Alfonso Reyes''), the

Menéndez Pelayo International Prize The Menéndez Pelayo International Prize has been awarded since 1987 by the Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP) with the objective of honoring those persons whose literary or scientific work has a humanistic orientation and application, ...

, the Spanish

Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise The Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise ( es, Orden Civil de Alfonso X el Sabio) is a Spanish civil order established in 1939, recognising activities in the fields of education, science, culture, higher education and research. The order was create ...

and the French

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

.Academia Mexicana de Historia: Obituary
In 1967, he became a Commander of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

. His personal library was one of the largest in Mexico; it has been preserved in the

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, o ...

Director of the Fondo de Cultura Económica

During his leadership of the Fondo de Cultura Económica, over 700 new titles were published and he created the ''Revistas Literarias Mexicanas Modernas'' collection, which reprinted, in facsimile editions, the most important

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

s published in Mexico during the first half of the twentieth century. He also focused on rebuilding the general catalog by reissuing a total of 1084 titles of continuing cultural significance.

Selected works

*''America Antigua: Nahua, Mayas, Quechuas, Otras Culturas'', (El Mundo Antiguo, VI), Secretaria de Educacion Publica (1976) *''El Trato con Escritores y Otros Estudios'', Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (1992) *''La Expresión Nacional: Letras Mexicanas del Siglo XIX'', Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (1993) *''La Literatura Mexicana del Siglo XX'', Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (1995) *''Pasajeros de Indias, Viajes Transatlánticos en el Siglo XVI'', Alianza (1998) *''Bibliofilia. (Autobiográfico)'', FCE (2000) *''Cruzar el Atlántico'', FCE (2004) *''Nezahualcóyotl: Vida y Obra'', FCE (2006) *''Hernán Cortés'', FCE (2006)

Career

Director of the Fondo de Cultura Económica

Selected works

References

Further reading