"A scandal that has lasted": pedagogical reflections on childhood during dictatorship

Abstract

Elsa Morante and Agota Kristof gave voice to the deprived childhood lived under the dictatorships: the little Useppe dies and, together with him, metaphorically perishes all childhood, while the twins Lucas and Claus, main actors of The Notebook trilogy, practice not to cry and not to express feelings, undergoing exercises of strengthening of body and spirit. These are the narratives of a childhood sacrificed by the dictatorial power on the altar of a project that, together with granite perfection, implicitly provides for the sterilization of feelings and disincentive freedom. The unidirectional enthusiasm of the crowds corresponds to the attempt to de-energize the curiosity of the individual subject and, if motherhood is encouraged, as well as the virile heroism, children and artists, on the other hand, must be regimented. This work will try to highlight the incompatibility between the authoritarian ideology of dictatorships – which makes children’s education more corresponding to its objectives – and the basic option of pedagogical models aimed at peace and freedom.