Mario J. Valdés

• Mario James Valdés San Martín

Mario James Valdés San Martín (January 28, 1934 - April 26, 2020) was Professor Emeritus at UofT’s Centre for Comparative Literature and a recognized specialist in hermeneutics, the writing of Miguel de Unamuno, Paul Ricoeur, and comparative literary history. As one of the initial faculty members of the Programme in Comparative Literature, Valdés later advocated for the creation of a research centre, the Centre for Comparative Literature, and became its first director in 1978.

Prof. Valdés was of Mexican descent, born in Chicago in 1934. Following studies in history, law, philology, and philosophy, he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1962. His dissertation, Death in the Literature of Unamuno, was published the following year and quickly established Valdés as an authority on Unamuno’s writing.

In 1963, Valdés accepted a position at the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor of Spanish Literature. He joined Northrop Frye in 1969 for the foundational year of the University’s graduate programme in comparative literature. Valdés continued at UofT until 1976, leaving briefly for Columbia University (1967) and Odense University in Denmark (1973) in visiting professor positions. He then returned to Chicago to become the Head of the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese at the University of Illinois (1976 - 1978).

During these early years of Valdés’ academic career, he continued his research on Unamuno. In the late 1960s, Prof. Valdés and his wife, María Elena de Valdés, worked with the author’s family to secretly photocopy his papers, which were restricted from public access under Spain’s Franco government. The copies were then smuggled out of the country and sent to Canada to be made available at UofT’s Fisher Rare Book Library. In 1973, the couple co-authored and published An Unamuno Source Book.

Prof. Valdés returned to UofT in 1978 as the first Director of the Centre for Comparative Literature, a condition of his acceptance being the development of the Programme in Comparative Literature into a broader research centre. During his time at the Centre (1978 – 1983), he invited major figures to present and provide guest lectures. Invited theorists included Paul Ricoeur, Hans-Robert Jauss, Wolfgang Iser, Frederic Jameson, Tzvetan Todorov, and Gérard Genette. Similarly, colleagues note how his active participation in and organizing of international conferences developed the reputation of the Centre1, alongside the continued dedication to mentoring students and colleagues2.

While Valdés maintained his interest in Unamuno throughout his career, his writing covered a broad range of topics within comparative literature. He authored Shadows in the Cave (1982), Phenomenological Hermeneutics and the Study of Literature (1987), World-Making: The Literary Truth-Claim and the Interpretation of Texts (1992), La Interpretación Abierta: Introducción a la Hermenéutica Literaria Contemporánea (1995) Hermeneutics of Poetic Sense (1998), and Cultural Hermeneutics (2016).

During the 1990s, Valdés spearheaded multiple collaborative projects through the SSHRC-funded Literary History Project, where María Elena de Valdés also served as Research and Administrative Director.

Prof. Valdés actively participated in a variety of professional associations, including serving as President of the Modern Language Association (1991), founding editor of the Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos (1976-92), and as a long-standing member of the Editorial Board of the Canadian Review of Comparative Literature, amongst others. His continued work with associations, such as the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA), included organizing many conferences and academic gatherings. In 1986, Valdés was recognized as Miembro Correspondiente de la Academia Mexicana and in 1983, he was elected as a member of the Royal Society of Canada.

Prof. Valdés retired from the University of Toronto in 1999, however continued his work publishing, presenting, and mentoring colleagues and students alike. He died in April 2020.

References:

• Linda Hutcheon Remembers Mario J. Valdes: https://complit.utoronto.ca/mario-j-valdes/
• In Memoriam: Professor Mario J. Valdés: https://complit.utoronto.ca/in-memoriam-professor-mario-j-valdes/
• In memoriam: Mario J. Valdés, 1934–2020: https://www.ailc-icla.org/in-memoriam-mario-j-valdes-1934-2020/

Authority record written and input by D. Ansovini, 2025.