(STILL) IN THE CLASSROOM (?) Literature, its teachers and its students in the contemporary context

Abstract

When we think about literature and its teaching, a superficial approach would limit itself exclusively on the context of verbal language, a context in which this particular art was sedimented and from where it developed, in what we usually call the “West”, since the Homeric epics. However, in the contemporary context, producing, thinking and teaching literature requires a wider arsenal of languages, changing the dynamics and the dialogues that are established. Such is the case of digital literature, which is increasingly emerging as a prominent element in the context of literary education and which brings with it the need to adapt (or even create) tools and strategies for its approach. Affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the adoption of various remote models (often mediated by the computer), literary education found itself in a situation that, apparently, would be conducive to the teaching of digital literature. However, is that what really happened? To answer this question, we will approach literature and its actors in its educational context, highlighting how such elements relate to and affect each other in the contemporary world.