Literary Reading and Sensitive Themes: Considerations on the Book Rabiscos, by Luís Dill

Abstract

This article highlights the possibilities of addressing sensitive topics—such as abandonment, violence, separation, grief, and social inequalities—through young adult literature. This is a qualitative study employing a bibliographic approach that focuses on the novel Rabiscos by Luís Dill (2019), awarded and recognized for its aesthetic and thematic relevance, as its analytical corpus. Narrated by Jorginho, a teenager who, while waiting at the hospital for news after an accident, records his memories and reflections in a notebook, the plot reveals family conflicts, paternal absence, economic hardship, manifestations of machismo, and episodes of reckless driving. The narrative, close to the language of youth, is multisemiotic, combining verbal and non-verbal texts. The study is grounded in Dalvi (2018), who advocates for a literary education that extends beyond mere text reading, and Gregorin Filho (2011), who emphasizes the historical and social dimensions of adolescence. It concludes that teacher mediation is essential for students’ formation and reaffirms the importance of literature as an artistic work capable of creating conditions to better understand universal human experiences.