Estudio introductorio. El aporte de la literatura a la concienciación del ciudadano entre política universitaria y práctica docente: la realidad contrafactual de Max Aub

Abstract

The contribution of literature to citizen awareness within academic politics and teaching practice: Max Aub’s counterfactual reality

Firstly, this paper aims to reassess the educational role of literature against the current policies of subordination of the humanities in the university study plans, reviewing of the opinions that make up the current debate on this subject. Secondly, as an example of the contribution of literature to citizen awareness, I will discuss the case of the writer Max Aub (1903-1972). In Aub’s literary production, along with the testimonial writings, texts based on imaginary situations abound. Among these writings stand out those which start from a counterfactual assumption. Although in some of these works a humorous streak stands out, the author’s attempt is not to produce a kind of escapist literature, but an indirect and non-dogmatic critique of reality. In this paper, I intend to show how the impossible realities he proposes to us can be useful to accustom students to look with more attentive eyes at their own living environments.