A leitura literária no curso secundário e o ideal humanista de formação

Abstract

The article analyzes the forms of representation of reading in the classroom present in educational periodicals and schoolbooks that discuss curriculum or literary reading, such as Revista Pedagógica (1894-1896), Revista de Educação (1927-1961), the Antologia nacional (1895) by Fausto Barreto and Carlos de Laet, Seleta clássica (1914), by João Ribeiro, and Céu, terra e mar (1914), by Alberto de Oliveira, and Português através de textos (1969), by Magda Soares. The aim of the paper is to show that the precedence of literary reading in Portuguese language teaching until the 1960s seems to preserve the heritage of the classical tradition, at the same time that it is part of a long debate about humanistic and scientific education in the secondary school curriculum. The clash between literary and scientific culture in the secondary school curriculum led to the gradual elimination of classical subjects at this level. On the other hand, the practice of reading literary texts remains in the Portuguese school subject, until the 1960s, as a characteristic feature of literary culture in Brazil.