In an attempt to better understand the reality of Literature teaching in Brazil, based on the production of knowledge of its postgraduate programs, we developed the research An analysis of the CAPES thesis and dissertations bank on Literature Teaching. Based on a corpus of 107 abstracts, we discuss the problematic relationship that is established between the teaching of Literature and textbook and, based on it, the stance already taken by teachers in the classroom, as well as the desirable role to be assumed by this same professional who brings with him/himself, according to her/his attitudes, the possibility of turning the activity of reading into something pragmatic, or a means to aesthetic enjoyment. Analysis of the postgraduate studies indicates the importance of working with authentic texts - which constitutes a way of escaping from the reductive reading concept of text frequently found in textbooks, which eliminates aesthetic pleasure. Thus, an appeal is made for textbooks to be used merely as a tool to support teaching, and not a parameter for classes.