Corazón de Edmondo de Amicis: el amor a la patria, la familia y la escuela inculcado a través de experiencias emocionales

Abstract

This article analyzes Corazón, a classic of children’s literature widely used in Spanish schools until at least the 1950s. Today it is reduced, in some way, to one of the monthly stories included there, «From the Apennines to the Andes». Starting from the repercussions that reading Corazón had on some characters, the image offered of the school, the teachers and the students is reviewed in the novel, 1887, and in a 1947 film. In conclusion, the greater relevance of situations, characters and contents of the novel compared to the films is pointed out, even when it tries to be faithful to the original. Reading books, specifically Corazón, can be considered a powerful educational technology that, in this case, was used to instil the values of love of the homeland, the family and the school in children and adults. Those three loves ended up being the same in the novel.