Margarita Peña ( Concepción Margarita Peña Muñoz; August 21, 1937October 7, 2018) was a Mexican writer, translator and researcher, doctor of letters, teacher and emeritus professor 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 ...

. Her work focused on Mexican literature of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Her awards include: Premio Universidad Nacional, Premio de la Cámara Nacional de la Industria Editorial, Premio Huehuetlatolli, Premio de Crítica Literaria, and Premio ComuArte.

Early life and education

Concepción Margarita Peña Muñoz was born in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, August 21, 1937. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in Hispanic literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico; and her doctorate from

El Colegio de México El Colegio de México, A.C. (commonly known as Colmex, English: The College of Mexico) is a Mexican institute of higher education, specializing in teaching and research in social sciences and humanities. The college was founded in 1940 by the Mex ...

Career

She was a professor of New Spanish literature, as well as of

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

literature. She served as a teacher at the undergraduate level for more than thirty years at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She belonged to the

Sistema Nacional de Investigadores Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (National System of Researchers) or SNI is a governmental agency established in Mexico in 1984 to promote both the quantity and quality of research in Mexico, especially in the sciences. In the 1980s, the countr ...

(SNI) (level III) since 2003 and was Coordinator of the Extraordinary Chair " Juan Ruiz de Alarcón". She taught in various universities in Mexico and abroad. She was widely activity in the world of letters, her work extending to the creation of articles, essays, critical editions, compilations and anthologies, short stories, essays, and newspaper articles, among others. Her constant work in the Archivo General de la Nación gave her access to letters, sonnets, romances, declarations of prisoners, spells, and even a fragment of a

treatise A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions."Treat ...

on palmistry. The work that brings together a wide variety of these writings is called ''La palabra amordazada'', and presents literature censored by the

Mexican Inquisition The Mexican Inquisition was an extension of the Spanish Inquisition into New Spain. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was not only a political event for the Spanish, but a religious event as well. In the early 16th century, the Reformati ...

during the colonial period. She wrote more than thirty essays. Her impressive work in document rescue makes her an important Mexican writer and literary figure. The critical edition of the New Spanish songbook of the 16th century, ''Flores de baria poesía'', is part of her work,"Peña Muñoz Concepción Margarita". dgapa.unam.mx as is the novel, ''El amarre''.

Personal life

Pena's husband was

Federico Campbell Federico Campbell Quiroz (July 1, 1941 – February 15, 2014) was a Mexican writer. Campbell is known for the short story collection ''Tijuanenses'' (Tijuana: Stories on the Border). She died of heart problems in Mexico City, October 7, 2018.

Awards and honours

Her awards and honours include: * 1993, Premio Universidad Nacional * 1991, Premio de la Cámara Nacional de la Industria Editorial * 1986, Premio Huehuetlatolli from the Chamber of Deputies * 2000, Premio de Crítica Literaria from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez * 2000, Premio COMUARTE (Coordinadora Internacional de Mujeres en el Arte)

Selected works

Juan Ruiz de Alarcón y Mendoza (1581-1639)

The titles of her other works are: * ''Emisión y emblemática de un oráculo hispanoitaliano'' * ''Juan Ruiz de Alarcón: reconstrucción biográfico-crítica'' * ''Mofarandel de los oráculos de Apolo'' * ''Libro del juego de las suertes'' * ''Literatura entre dos mundos'' * ''Descubrimiento y conquista de América'' * ''Los cuadernos de Sor Juana'' * ''Juan Ruiz de Alarcón ante la crítica'' * ''La palabra amordazada'' * ''Quiromancia y adivinación en la Nueva España'' * ''El teatro novohispano en el siglo XVIII'' * ''Los varios tonos de la relación Lope de Vega-Juan Ruiz de Alarcón'' * ''Aventuras de Lula y el duende piernas largas'' * ''Alarcón, Cervantes: Una mirada alterna''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pena, Margarita 1937 births 2018 deaths People from Mexico City 20th-century Mexican writers 20th-century Mexican educators 21st-century Mexican writers 21st-century Mexican educators 20th-century Mexican women writers 21st-century Mexican women writers Women educators Mexican non-fiction writers Mexican translators National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni National Autonomous University of Mexico faculty El Colegio de México alumni