¿Youth and traditional tales? Exploratory study in higher education

Abstract

Starting from the problem of preserving memory and traditional literature, as well as the possible presence of traditional tales in the reader intertext of new generations, this exploratory study presents as a research question: ¿will university students still be able to mobilize certain traditional tales that are well known in Portuguese society? The objectives of this study were to understand and analyze the students' ability to mobilize traditional tales; and understand and analyze students' ability to imagine and create, starting from traditional tales. The study focused, in particular, on the traditional tale História da Carochinha and was carried out with higher education students. The results point to a weak mobilization, on the part of the students, of this narrative. In its hypertexts, remains the structure of the hypotext, but very important aspects for the development of the intrigue are ignored. The students' hypertexts suggest, despite everything, that they know traditional tales.