The journal Literaturna Misal has been published by the Institute for Literature (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) since 1957. The first editor-in-chief was Pantelei Zarev. At that time, the editorial board included such important researchers as Atanas Natev, Georgi Dimov, Georgi Tsanev, Emil Georgiev, Lyudmil Stoyanov, Petar Dinekov, Stoyan Karolev, Todor Pavlov, and Hristo Yordanov. Over the following decades, the composition of the editorial board changed several times. In 1992, the editor-in-chief became Radosvet Kolarov, while the members of the editorial board were Nikolay Aretov (deputy editor-in-chief) and Georgi Tsankov. In 2012, Nikolay Aretov was elected editor-in-chief. Today, the journal is under the direction of Anna Aleksieva.
Literaturna Misal is one of the most respectable literary periodicals in Bulgaria and abroad. It is the only Bulgarian academic journal that contemporarily deals with comparative studies and literary theory, criticism, and history. During its years of activity, the journal has established itself as a privileged discussion forum in the field of literary studies and, in a certain sense, in the humanities as a whole. One of the aims of Literaturna Misal is to find knots, where different scholarly approaches meet or face each other. It keeps a close watch on topical debates, trying to offer alternative interpretative lines. As a result, in the periodical, several published articles are “beyond the leading and traditional paradigms.”
The journal encourages and promotes interdisciplinary research. That is why its editorial board makes many efforts to raise the interest in regional cultural problems and, especially, the interest in the multicultural characteristics of the Balkan area. The achievements of different literary schools from all over the world have been made accessible to the Bulgarian scholars thanks to Literaturna Misal. The journal also strives to give more relevance to the various national literary and scientific achievements reached by researchers who work in the countries of Eastern Europe. In fact, there are many special issues devoted to Czech, Polish, and Hungarian literary studies. Following its own traditions, Literaturna Misal publishes numerous articles and chapters of books translated from English, Russian, French, and German. As a methodological arbiter and referee, the journal has been called upon to be a moderator of several contemporary debates, in which it has tried to find a balance among different contradictory positions. Furthermore, Literaturna Misal explores the rhetoric and logic behind postmodern epistemology and, in particular, contemporary literary studies.
The editorial board is convinced that the journal should always attempt to challenge the traditional literary conceptions and generalizations of all kinds. Literaturna Misal does this by examining traditional topics and publishing special issues that seek to penetrate more deeply into the development of Bulgarian humanities and the motives behind one or another methodological position. In this way, the journal enriches the Bulgarian academic panorama and paves the way to new methodological and theoretical approaches.