The reading experience of the writer Zélia Gattai

Abstract

At the beginning of the 20th century, only a few women had access to education and to the public space. Marginalized, inferior, often seen as an aberration, the history of women is marked by silencing and denial of access to reading and writing. Reading is a tool for identity construction, female emancipation and individual and social liberation. We propose to reflect on the reading experiences of the writer Zélia Gattai, present in her book Anarquistas, graças a Deus (1979). It is a bibliographic-descriptive work based on: Perrot (1992), Priore (2004), Lajolo and Zilberman (2011), among others. In an unequal, conservative and patriarchal society, reading is a first-rate basic need for women.