THE INTERRUPTED LEGACY: THE ROLE OF PEDAGOGY IN THE FACE OF LITERARY DISINTEREST AND THE RISK OF SILENCING NEW NATIONAL GENIUSES

Abstract

The lack of interest in literary reading among Brazilian students represents a pedagogical phenomenon that compromises the cultural and intellectual formation of new generations. This study analyzes the relationships between current pedagogical practices, the progressive distancing of young people from national literature, and the consequent risk of silencing creative voices with the potential for high-value literary production. The research adopts a qualitative approach of bibliographic and exploratory nature, grounded in a systematic review of specialized literature in education, critical pedagogy, and reader formation. The results indicate that disciplinary pedagogical models, combined with the absence of representativeness in school collections and the fragility of public policies aimed at promoting reading, constitute the main vectors of literary distancing. The analyses reveal that schools reproduce structures of cultural silencing that inhibit emerging literary talents, especially in peripheral and racially marginalized contexts. The study concludes that the renewal of pedagogical practices, guided by decolonial perspectives and the valorization of Brazilian literary diversity, represents the pedagogical path to reverse this situation. The findings point to the need for curricular restructuring that incorporates peripheral cultural expressions and ancestral narratives as legitimate reading objects, thereby expanding students' literary repertoire and creating conditions for the emergence of new national literary geniuses.