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IntroductionPage 2 of 2
However, the subject of Literature as a resource for the history of education has certain specificities that emerge partly from the fact that it comprises a largely heterogeneous corpus of works, which are by no means a priori suitable for educational purposes. In fact, literature in its course of history has had an ambivalent relation to education itself. It is impossible to go through the entire history of this relation here, suffice it however to remind Horace’s doctrine of dulce et utile, i.e. pleasing and (morally) useful, that dates from Roman times and has prevailed in different periods of the European literary production up to the neoclassicism of the 18th century, as well as the different forms of engaged literature (or ‘literature of commitment’ as it is often termed) that have procured literary works of no less importance than those that are more or less close to the idea of ‘art for art’s sake’. The fact that formal education has made – and still makes – use of this very wide array of texts for teaching purposes alerts us to the varying profiles of different educational systems at the same time that it underlines the importance of the different parameters that serve to accommodate this heterogeneous material to the needs of formal education. In what follows I present some of what I consider as key parameters in transforming Literature into a teaching subject for secondary education. The study of these factors is essential if one attempts to formulate an idea of education in different periods and regimes based on the teaching of this important subject. The increasing digitization and online offer of schoolbooks and other archival material such as educational laws, school regulations and curricula, pictures, journal and newspaper articles, have greatly eased this kind of research. The “Webliography” section of this website offers numerous suggestions in this direction. |
