Abstract
Based on the ideas of Roger Chartier, Umberto Eco, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault and Paulo Freire, this text outlines an investigation into how literature, through reading circles, and according to the view of their participants, can help in the development of the individual and become meaningful in the construction of his or her identity. The people participating in these circles were being taught to read and write in a special course for illiterate adults in Rio de Janeiro. In this research I tried to answer two questions: 1) what is the meaning of literature (within the reading circles) as an instrument to transform the subjectivity of the individuals involved? (Here dealing with such themes as education and identity); and 2) how to create a taste for literature and establish a reading habit in people who, in principle, have no interest in these pursuits?
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