A pequena vendedora de fósforos: o desamparo e a solidão no conto infantil

Abstract

This work aims to discuss the contribution of Hans Christian Andersen to childhood literature. One of the main points observed was the author's rupture with the tradition of happy endings in some of his stories. In this context, he wrote short stories that approached the theme of helplessness and loneliness in childhood with a melancholy tone for children. In this process of literary creation, it is possible to see that the Danish writer problematized the pedagogical and didactic character present in many children's narratives, which excluded taboos such as death, helplessness and child labor. If, on the one hand, the authors themselves voluntarily avoided such content and subjects in their narratives, on the other hand, some editors modified the writers' texts in order to emphasize to the extreme the pedagogical and utilitarian character of the literary text for children. In turn, this fact has contributed so that the youth literature is considered minor in what refers to the literary canon. Therefore, from this point of view, we will analyze the story "A pequena vendedora de fósforo" based on the issues raised, not forgetting the literary trajectory of Andersen, who was innovative for the panorama of children's and young people's literature, because he wrote it having child as a target audience of his stories, and not just adapted the folk tales of adults to the childlike atmosphere. As a basis for the discussion, we will bring to the dialogue the position, mainly, of Nelly Novaes Coelho (2008) and Ana Maria Machado (2009), among other authors, in order to show that Andersen's production was a milestone in relation to the books for children and young people.