Leer para sentir. La dimensión emocional de la educación literaria

Abstract

 In recent decades, the crisis in the “teaching of literature” has become evident in those countries where literary history has deep roots, such as Spain or France, especially in secondary education. This paper claims new methodological approaches aimed at transforming this teaching in a real “literary education” able to create in young people the desire to read and to continue reading outside of school, and contribute to the discovery of the reading experience and the construction of individual, social and cultural identity. To do this, it is essential to encourage personal reading, the sort of reading which provides deep emotional ties between thematic content of the text, its ethical and social values, and the conflicts or situations experienced by specific readers, children or adolescents who are forming their personality, their conception of reality and their behavior. This does not mean treating the ethical content outside the aesthetic features of works.