Traditional Literature in the 2nd Cycle of Basic Education

A possible path with "The Fox and the Stork"

Abstract

It is well known that literature contributes to the integral formation of the human being. But what are we talking about when we talk about literature? What kind of literature moves within the school context? Is literature taught? Is it learned? Do you educate yourself? Although ancient, these questions, whenever revisited, keep relevant the reflection on the subversive and destabilizing character of the literary text and on the role of the school as a space of restlessness, liberation, and transformation in a society increasingly subjugated to neoliberal interests. In this context, irony, characterized by a markedly optimistic and democratic register, is presented as a reference strategy for questioning, the development of critical thinking, and subsequent resistance to the domestication of knowledge. Considering that traditional literature constitutes fertile ground for the germination of irony, what is proposed here is an analysis of the place of this literature in current textbooks, a problematization of the work guidelines presented by them, and the outlining of an alternative route for the 2nd Cycle of Basic Education. Taking the fable "The Fox and the Stork" as an example, this study seeks to embrace the communicative specificity of literature, to reclaim the oral essence of traditional literary texts fixed by writing, and to promote the potential of irony in literary texts as a pedagogical tool for the exercise of a humanist citizenship, consistent with the values ​​sought for the 21st century.