Literary theory and the teaching of literature: deadlocks

Abstract

This essay discusses how literary theory has understood the notions of author, reader, and text throughout the twentieth century, observing how the different treatments given to these three categories generate some deadlocks concerning the teaching of literature inside the classroom environment. In this sense, in order to show the connection between theoretical concepts and the teacher’s practice, the essay presents three basic questions: “who is the author?”, “who is the reader?”, and “what are the boundaries of the text?”. The notions of author, reader, and text, instead of metaphysical, constitute theoretical assumptions that can be understood in different ways and which determine the treatment the literary work receives inside the classroom.