Diários de bordo : uma viagem pela leitura de textos com o tema infância na Penitenciária Estadual de Maringá

Abstract

Literature is a humanizing factor indispensable for the psychic equilibrium of the subjects (Candido, 1995). In the wake of this dictum, current dissertation analyzes the reception and the production of a group of people characterized by social marginalization, convicts at the State Prison of Maringá, Maringá PR Brazil, through the interpretation of the 'childhood' theme. It is rather a section of a wider research project titled 'Literature, Reading and Writing: the re-signification of individuals' identity in conditions of social exclusion', coordinated by professors Alice Áurea Penteado Martha and Marilurdes Zanini. The project included workshops on reading and writing dealing with literary texts on the three phases of life (childhood, youth and old age) involving convicts of the State Prison of Maringá. Current dissertation shows results on the analysis of the 'childhood' theme from the convicts' textual production in their diaries. Methodology is based on Hans Kügler's Levels of Literary Reception in Teaching (apud MARTHA, 1987), enhancing the phases Primary Reading and Collective Constitution of Meaning, discussed in the above mentioned book. The sections of Reading Theory, namely, Reception Aesthetics, Aesthetic Effect Theory and Sociology of Literature, foreground the theoretical basis of current investigation. Dissertation also includes analyses of results subdivided into three stages: (1) social, economical and cultural profile of the subjects collected by two questionnaires undertaken at the start and at the end of the project, coupled to textual production with the most significant images for the participating subject; (2) text analysis with the 'childhood' theme and an analysis of the diaries produced by the subjects; (3) analysis of textual productions written by the convicts. Result results show a significant improvement in reading and in the comprehension of the literary text by the subjects involved. Although they have not progressed beyond the Primary Reading stage, the Project's subjects could re-signify their identities through the acquisition of a new weltanschauung brought about by dealing with literary texts.