Filipe Delfim Santos’ (2017) book
Education and the Boarding School Novel—
The Work of José Régio
is a well-written and insightful work in eight chapters, engaging with
the genre of boarding school novels as well as related genres, such as
the
Künstlerroman and
Bildungsroman, and their relevance for education. Santos shows at the example of José Régio’s work
A drop of blood
how boarding school novels not only tell a story about boarding schools
as educational institutions but also about the impact of the daily life
and environment of such schools on students’ mental, character and
self-development of, predominantly, boys. The book can loosely be
divided into two parts, with Chapters 1–4 focusing on the broader topic
of boarding school novels situated in the wider context of genres, its
relevance to education and a reflection on boarding schools as special
places in which Santos analyses the power relations and structures
impacting on the development of the young mind. Chapters 5–8 see a shift
of focus more strongly towards José Régio as author, educator and
artist, as well as a more detailed engagement with his boarding school
novel
A drop of blood as an autobiographical novel of Régio’s early life.
In
the first two chapters, Santos argues the relevance of non-fiction
literature—in the case of school and boarding school novels often
autobiographical—for education, especially for the study of the
psychological effects of the schooling experience on the educated mind.
Santos argues that the memories forming these texts reflect, on the one
hand, the most influential and memorable events and circumstances on the
novelist and, on the other hand, are usually of substantial length,
allowing a psychological exploration of the student’s developing
character at the time. Santos further offers a short overview of
different literary genres in relation to boarding school novels and
alludes to two distinct versions within this kind of novel: the boarding
school novel in the Anglophone tradition—written for the young,
idealising the school experience, and the more autobiographical
tradition prevalent in German, Francophone and Portuguese literature,
among others. The latter is usually written for a mature audience,
offering a more critical perspective and often depicturing a much
harsher reality than boarding school novels in the English tradition:
The
school’s purpose of protecting the young from the social plagues of the
outside world … is defeated by the very nature of society’s worst
features: abuses of power, hypocrisy and disrespect for the individual: ‘Boarding does not create society; boarding school mirrors it’ (Pompeia 1888, 312). (Santos, p. 23, italics in original)
What
is of particular interest to educators here is the bleak outlook on
what could be seen as an idealised educational environment, which
presumably would allow for a well-structured and carefully crafted
pedagogical experience beyond the classroom for students. Although
Santos draws on a range of boarding school novels from different
countries (with a focus on Portuguese and German literature), one has to
keep in mind the historical perspective of this genre, which has seen
most contributions in the late nineteenth to mid twentieth century. One
would hope and assume that boarding schools today would follow more
refined pedagogical practices and provisions for students’ well-being.
However, I am not aware of research that has looked at the structural
changes of boarding schools in comparison to earlier concepts. More
recent research around social and cultural reproduction of society in
and through schools might indicate that similar process are still at
play (
Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (2002). Schooling in Capitalist America Revisited. Sociology of Education, 75, 1–18. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]),
if so, mirroring a different social and cultural environment than was
present at the time reflected in the novels drawn on in this book.Santos
then turns to Foucault and his discussion of places of power. He
depicts boarding schools as ‘allotopias’, as special places that are
restricted in access and restrictive in their nature. Santos discusses
the restrictive and oppressive power relations often emergent in
boarding school literature and compares boarding schools with other
‘places of confinement’, such as prisons, juvenile corrections, boot
camps, convents, hospitals and other ‘total institutions’. According to
Santos, boarding schools are only outpaced by juvenile correction
institutions in fulfilling criteria often attributed to ‘hypertopias’
(total institutions), such as seclusion, restricted eligibility,
surveillance and others. The theme of allotopias and power relations,
here discussed in general terms, is later picked up again in the
discussion of Régio’s novel
A drop of blood, where Santos points
out the interdependent, sometimes slave-like and degrading power
relations between new and older students, as well as students and
prefects. Santos concludes that ‘Schools are true
laboratories of power’ (p. 52).
Aspects
of gender in boarding school literature are addressed in Chapter 4,
where Santos comments on the strong male focus of the genre—a majority
of the literature on boarding schools from the antiques to today plays
in boys only school environments. Santos discusses the images of
masculinity that are dominant at the time and local cultural context of
the boarding school experiences described in the novels, which are quite
often, according to Santos, dominated by Christian and bourgeois values
of turning boys into men. Novels often reaffirm traditional masculinity
stereotypes of physical strength and a certain rowdiness and toughness
as the ideal of what it means to be a man. However, other aspects of
masculinity and internal experiences of boys as boys are emerging,
especially in the Portuguese and Continental European boarding school
literature. Santos discusses the impact these conceptions of masculinity
can have on the developing male mind and character, especially where
internal experiences of self do not fit the external ideal of what it
means to be a boy or a man. He explains further the symbiotic
relationships between boys that are depicted. For example, in Régio’s
work, relationships between a physically strong and dominant boy who
offers a certain protection and the nerdier, studious and often less
physically capable boy who brings some balance and a voice of reason to
the boy-dyad. Santos further alerts the reader, here and in the later
discussion of Régio’s work, to the complexity of male relationships
between friendship, dependencies and romantic desires that emerge in
some of the boarding school literature. Santos closes his reflection on
masculinity and the boarding school ideal, stating the fated decline of
the latter due to changing views on masculinity after the Second World
War, which has seen a stronger emergence of female ideas in family
contexts. Santos mentions briefly that a more romanticised, in contrast
to some of the more explicit depicted sexual encounters in male focused
boarding school novels, female genre tradition was established, but has
seen less followers and is only touched on here. Although Santos clearly
focuses on Régio’s work in this book, the elaborate and detailed work
on boarding school novels in general would, in my mind, have warranted a
more detailed engagement with the female focused tradition of the
genre. The shortness of the topic here leaves a slightly superficial
impression that sits at odds with the level of depth and breadth Santos
applies throughout the rest of his work.
As
indicated above, Chapter 5 sees a turning point in the book, focusing
more strongly on Régio as a person, educator, author and artist, and on
his work in the Portuguese literature scene. Santos sets the context by
describing the place of boarding schools novels in Portuguese literature
and situates Régio’s
A drop of blood in the wider local and
historical context of adult focused boarding school novels. Santos
provides a background of Régio as an eclectic writer who published in a
range of genres. Régio grew up and became a teacher in a small, secluded
village in rural Portugal. However, Santos interprets Régio’s writing
to show a more troubled and far from idyllic persona. Régio is said to
see art as an expression of the individual’s ‘I’ of the artist, which
contextualises his writing not as a form of activism or social
criticism, but as an expression of his own persona and experiences. This
non-activist stance, according to Santos, has created some challenges
for Régio within the circles he connected with. However, some of his
work has also been oppressed by the then-government due to perceived
activism and evident naming and criticism of social issues, although he
did not advocate for ready-made solutions of any flavour. Overall,
Santos paints Régio as a controversial artist who faced internal,
personal and external challenges in terms of perception and recognition
of his art. In the context of his boarding school novel, Régio’s
autobiographic focus on the inner self and psychology of the protagonist
allows valuable insights of Régio’s experiences in boarding schools on
his personal development and self.
Arguably
one of the most interesting chapters for educators is Chapter 7, in
which Santos analysis Régio’s boarding school novel from an educational
perspective, drawing on many of the concepts established in the earlier
chapters, such as allotopias, power relations, images of masculinity and
boyhood relationships. Although each section in this chapter has its
own appeal, the chapter itself has a somewhat disjointed and episodic
feel to it. Here, Santos begins with a reflection on the power of
narratives and differing versions of the same events, stating the lesson
that
‘when your version of the story is not told, you risk becoming not
the hero but the villain’, which he sees as fundamental ‘to the
unfolding of Régio’s narrative as well’ (p. 110). Santos reflects
briefly on ‘other spaces’ followed by an analysis of Lelito’s (Régio’s
protagonist) school initiation as rituals of humiliation and
degradation. Santos looks at the model of prefects and fags, common at
the time in boarding schools following the English model, analysing the
power relations and forms of class systems in boarding schools in which
new students start out as servants, not to say slaves, of mature
students in exchange for protection from other forms of abuse. The
aforementioned pairing of boys in symbiotic relationships is discussed,
as well as Régio’s ‘psychic masochism’, expressed through open and
explicit narratives of Régio’s erotic life to an extent that Santos
judges challenging even for today’s readers.
Santos concludes in Chapter 8 that Régio’s
A drop of blood is indeed a
Künstlerroman,
as it focuses on the formation of the personality of the protagonist in
an autobiographical fashion, representing the ‘I’ of the artist. Santos
judges Régio’s work not to be attractive for the general public, but
for a selected audience, although his writing is supposedly easy to
engage with. From an educational perspective, Santos considers boarding
school novels and Régio’s work in particular as double significant: (i)
the personal development of students in a treacherous and dangerous (for
soul and self) environment is presented for psychological analysis, and
(ii) a critical reflection on educational settings, especially on
boarding schools, beyond the glorification in the British tradition, is
implicitly or explicitly part of this autobiographic genre. Santos sees
links to relevant educational questions, such as single-sex educative
environments and the impact of contemporary views and stereotypes of
masculinity (and femininity) on these environments. In regard to Régio’s
A drop of blood, Santos lists a range of questions the novel
poses for education, such as if and how young men with artistic
dispositions can be accommodated in mainstream schools and curricula,
and how and when should these students received detached, individualised
education to foster their artistic interests and talents? Here, links
to the educational discussion around talent and giftedness, as well as
inclusive education and universal design for learning come to mind, but
have not been considered by Santos in this context. However, Santos
draws on Régio to point out once again the reproductive function of
schools for society and notes that it is here
‘that disrespect for the
individual begins, in the name of goals presented as common and
universal. But are they ours? Should they be ours?’ (p. 134).
Santos’ book
Education and the boarding school novel
is eloquently written and a pleasure to read. It covers a wide range of
aspects related to boarding school novels as a genre in global and
historical contexts; the relevance of literature for educational theory
and contemplation; boarding schools as ‘other spaces’ that are sometimes
idolised but do not live up their ideal in the autobiographic
narratives presented in the boarding school literature; as well as an
analysis of José Régio as author and artist, and an educational analysis
of
A drop of blood in relation to students volatile
psychological development and the impact of school organisation and
settings. Overall, the book provides an interesting overview into this
broad topic, although some chapters and sections within seem disjointed
at first and only find their place when looked at as a whole. It
certainly is a book that needs, and is worthy, to be read from cover to
cover.
