Ways of Reading: Path to Freedom

When we mark fifty years since the 1974 Revolution, it is crucial to mention the concept of freedom, the lack of it and the way we live it. It has been a topic of reflection over the centuries, and we invoke it both in the name of ideals and in relation to the most trivial day-to-day actions. It is the basis of democratic systems and represents the desire for independence, self-determination and spontaneity of every human being. Freedom is linked to Law, Philosophy, Politics and the most legitimate movements of societies and peoples. In Literature, and in this cycle in particular, we will begin by revisiting the events of fifty years ago, with the novel by Hugo Gonçalves that follows these times of exaltation as well as everything that followed in the construction of our democracy. We will also analyze the traumas linked to the lack of freedom caused by totalitarianism (Atwood), slavery (Whitehead), addiction (Dostoevsky), the pressure of religion in a community (Baldwin) or physical disability (Venturini).