Da ilha-refúgio ao espaço da xenofobia, num «arquipélago» de ambiguidade, na tragédia Les portugaiz infortunez, de Nicolas-Chrétien des Croix (1608)

Abstract

This paper applies theory concepts by G. Voissset and Massimo Cacciari, but also the contribution of poets like Horatio, Fernando Pessoa and Édouard Glissant. It is an analysis of the tragedy Les portugais infortunez, by Nicolas-Chrétien Des Croix, edited in Rouen (1608). The shipwreck of Manuel de Sousa Sepulveda with his wife and children but also 600 people in Galion S. João in 1552, in South Africa (Terra do Natal), account edited in 1554 and compiled by Bernardo Gomes de Brito (Tragic history of the sea, T.I., 1735) which source is Historiarum indicarum(B. XVI) by father G. Maffei (Florence, 1588) is the theme of this tragic play. After six months of pilgrimage in Africa (300 leagues) the Portuguese are welcome in Inhaca island by a good king. But their imprudence pushes them to Manhiça, another island where they are disarmed and denuded till their death by exhaustion and hunger the majority of them. Finally, they leave the Elephant island to arrive to Mozambique island. From the image of island refuge (Inhaca, Elephant, Mozambique) it succeeds the xenophobia, suspicion and expiatory sacrifice. The image of archipelago is ambiguous: the wrecked persons are ambitious but also annunciators of the Gospel.