A formação do leitor literário em uma perspectiva crítica freireana

Abstract

This research investigates the formation of literary readers based on Paulo Freire (1921-1997), who understands that the act of reading is not a mechanical manipulation and that reading words is preceded by reading the world. Therefore, there must be a dialogical relationship between the reader's world and the word read. To establish a connection between the reader's reality and the fictional space of literary works, we will use Paul Zumthor's (1915-1995) concept of reading and performance as a basis. For him, performance is a form of oral communication that can establish a connection with writing and reading through the reader's body. With this research, we aim to offer possibilities for this relationship through the reception of a literary work in a meaningful way for the student and to conduct a conceptual survey of Paulo Freire and Paul Zumthor. Reading work in schools and pedagogical practice must include effective actions that address concrete reality and its transformation. Therefore, it is essential to consider the specific context of the student reader for their reading to be meaningful. Reading books in school should also stem from the student's understanding of themselves and their world, including its contradictions and subjectivities. For Freire, school must have meaning for the student; for Zumthor, reading must have meaning for the reader. Reading and school are spaces of encounter, where historical subjects transit, and therefore, dialogue must emerge from these spaces. In the school encounter, reality needs to be the object of reflection. Reading presents itself as a pedagogical action that transforms worlds: the fictional space, the literary work, and the student as a historical subject. Reading is a territory where the reader learns more about themselves in the world and encounters themselves, but it is not a casual encounter; it is an action that transforms the reader through critical thinking and interaction with the world. Therefore, the research problem of this work relates to the following questions: How can reading the world and reading words be critical, dialogical, and meaningful for students? To what extent does reading literary works contribute to the student's critical perception of reality, according to Paulo Freire? To answer these questions, the central objective is to understand how literature teaching in schools can be incorporated into Freire's critical perspective, taking the student's reality as a starting point. To this end, from a critical Freirean perspective, we present five analytical propositions: dialectics of reading, meaningful reading, critical bioreading, reading experience, and dialogical-critical reading. These propositions do not revolve around abstraction but rather aim to develop the critical literary reader, therefore, a subject who constructs their own history. They seek a transformative relationship between reader, text, and world, a triad that seeks answers and problematizations to overcome existential needs and imposed obstacles. These hypotheses bring into the school and the book what belongs to the reader's concrete world, which dialogues with the fictional world of the literary work. Through a qualitative approach, bibliographical research and documentary analysis are used to understand the teaching processes in the São Paulo state public school system, through their curricula, to understand how they approach or distance themselves from Freire's critical conception of education and the act of reading. The fundamental results of the research show that the São Paulo Portuguese Language Curriculum lacks a Freirean perspective. In other words, it is distant from the concrete reality of the learner and the dialogue between reading the world and reading the word. Therefore, the reader's immediate world is not a starting point for São Paulo education, where knowledge is given, not constructed.

Keywords: Paulo Freire; Reading; Reality; São Paulo Portuguese Language Curriculum.