Literature of the Americas Literature of the Americas 2541-7894 2542-243X IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2026-20-416-452 Research Article Articles At the Origins of Latin American Literary Studies in the USSR: The History of the Ibero-American Group at the GAKhN 2026 Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The paper dwells on the history of the institutional study of Latin American literature at the State Academy of Art Sciences (GAKhN), first within the General Literature subsection of the Literary Section and later within the Ibero-American group established under that subsection. In the mid-1920s, the study of Latin American literature remained discrete and was often pursued in conjunction with Spanish literature, without clear differentiation. In December 1926, the Ibero-American group was formed within the General Literature subsection and headed by Sergei Ignatov. The article demonstrates how the work of Soviet hispanists, translators, GAKhN scholars contributed to the first institutional conceptualization of Latin American literature in the USSR. It reviews the group’s scholarly activities and traces the evolution of Soviet–Latin American contacts. The group’s relations with other organizations — notably VOKS and the Hispano-American Society in Leningrad — are examined, and its contribution to the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution is explored. In 1929, the group’s activities ceased, and in 1930, Ignatov left the GAKhN. The Ibero-American group became the first center for the study of Spanish and Latin American literature in the USSR. The addendum includes abstracts of papers delivered at meetings in 1926–1927 and documents related to the group’s activities. The author of the article expresses gratitude to Sergei Igorevich Panov for the advice to look into the history of the Ibero-American group of the State Academy of Art Sciences (GAKhN) and information on the archived materials. 1. Bogomolov 2018 — Bogomolov, Nikolai A. “Drugoe literaturovedenie: zaniatiia podsektsii istorii russkoi literatury GAKhN. 1925–1929” [“Another Literary Criticism: Classes of the Subsection of the History of Russian Literature in the State Academy of Artistic Sciences. 1925–1929”]. In Russkaia literatura i filosofiia: puti vzaimodeistviia [Russian Literature and Philosophy: Paths of Interaction], edited by Elena A. Takho-Godi. Moscow: Vodolei Publ., 2018: 461–474. (In Russ.)Dmitriev 2010 — Dmitriev, Aleksandr. “Literaturovedenie v GAKhN mezhdu filosofiei, poetikoi i sotsiologiei” [“Literary Criticism in the GAKhN Between Philosophy, Poetics and Sociology”]. Logos, no. 2 (75) (2010): 105–121. (In Russ.)Gudkova 2019 — Gudkova, Violetta V. Teatral’naia sektsiia GAKhN: istoriia idei i liudei, 1921–1930 [The Theatre Section of GAKhN: A History of Ideas and People, 1921–1930]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2019. (In Russ.)Kheifets, Kheifets 2019 — Kheifets, Lazar’ S., and Viktor L. Kheifets. Komintern i Latinskaia Amerika: liudi, struktury, resheniia [The Comintern and Latin America: People, Structures, Decisions]. Moscow: Politicheskaia entsiklopediia Publ., 2019. (In Russ.)Pisateli sovremennoi epokhi 1995 — Pisateli sovremennoi epokhi: Biobibliograficheskii slovar’ [Writers of the Modern Era: A Biobibliographical Dictionary], vol. 2, edited by Nikolai A. Bogomolov. Moscow: Russkoe bibliograficheskoe obshchestvo; EksPrint NV Publ., 1995. (In Russ.)Shchelchkov 2025 — Shchelchkov, Andrey. “The Latin American Policy of the Soviet Society of Cultural Links, VOKS, in the Period 1920–1930.” Izquierdas (Santiago) 54, no. 5 (2025).