The formation of literary readers based on Jacques Rancière’s emancipation and Guy Debord’s conception of the society of the spectacle

Abstract

This study seeks to understand and analyse how the formation of the literary reader occurs through the implications of the society of the spectacle, a concept of Guy Debord (2003), and emancipation from the perspective of Jacques Rancière (2019). In considering the importance of literary reading for the formation of individuals, some situations that may or may not contribute to the development of the reading subject were problematised. In relation to the concept of spectacle, these situations were analysed through bibliographical, qualitative and reflective research. The books The Society of the Spectacle, by Debord, and The Ignorant Schoolmaster, by Rancière, were the fundamental basis of the theoretical foundation, although other works may also be used to complement analysis of specific points. The work carried out here has shown that both Jacques Rancière's concept of "the distribution of the sensible" and Guy Debord's concept of the "society of the spectacle" have great applicability to the field of education in general and to the training of literary readers in particular, especially if one adds the concepts of Antonio Candido, who sees the access to literature as a human right and not as a privilege of certain social classes. An emancipated teacher, aware of the intricacies of the society of the spectacle, contributes to the formation of emancipated readers.