Erico Veríssimo’s children’s literature: notes on the dissemination of historical and scientific knowledge

Abstract

This study examines the material characteristics and dissemination of children’s literature by Erico Veríssimo, who wrote for children and young people throughout the second half of the 1930s and had his books published by Editora do Globo, in Porto Alegre. As a chronological cut-off, the years from 1935 to 1939 are considered, when the books reached the windows of Livraria do Globo and the advertising pages of numerous periodicals. The central hypothesis is that these books were a space for non-institutionalized education for children and young people, in terms of scientific and historical aspects, given the themes selected by the author: history, history of Brazil, natural history and health sciences. The study’s theoretical analysis and methodological approach are based on assumptions drawn from the History of the Book, Reading and Publishing, with emphasis on the materiality of printed matter and reading protocols, capable of mobilizing readers’ interpretation, which accompanied the books or presented them in other textual supports, such as periodicals. According to the results achieved, the books written by Erico Veríssimo, on the one hand, value historical knowledge and prescribe self-care as a form of knowledge and health preservation and, on the other, are configured as a project by the writer and by Livraria e Editora do Globo itself with a view to spreading reading and historical-scientific knowledge.