Brazilian League against Illiteracy: A Discursive Analysis of its ‘Crusade’ in favor of Reading

Abstract

In this article, we carry out an analysis of discourses of reading promotion in texts that circulated in the Brazilian printed media at the beginning of the twentieth century, where there is the project and activities of the Brazilian League against Illiteracy, founded in 1915. The League actions and projects’ enunciation indicates both discourses then in effect about Brazilian reading and readers and shared representations regarding the encouragement of this practice. Our goal is to describe some of those representations and their fomentation that guide the League creators’ actions. For this purpose, we are supported by some principles of the Discourse Analysis and the Cultural History of Reading. Besides the consensus that still exists on Brazilians permanent reading deficit, we noticed a re-emergence of the proselytizing discourse in the reading promotion, assumed by that institution as a “holy crusade”.

Keywords:
Discourse; Reading promotion; Brazilian League against Illiteracy