Language as Poetry and Drama According to Benedito Nunes

Abstract

Benedito Nunes was a Brazilian philosopher and literary critic who developed his activities in the second half of the twentieth and the first decade of the twenty first centuries. A graduate in law, he was, in the beginning of his intellectual career, an autodidact in philosophy, until he could attend Merleau-Ponty’s and Paul Ricouer’s courses in France, in 1960. His publications, ranging from didactic books to treatises and anthologies of essays, approach mainly topics of aesthetics and philosophy of art (particularly philosophy of literature). In this article special attention is given to two of his most relevant books: Passagem para o poético. Filosofia e Poesia em Heidegger [Passage to the poetic. Philosophy and poetry in Heidegger] – winner of 1987’s Prêmio Jabuti award – and O drama da linguagem. Uma leitura de Clarice Lispector [The Drama of Language. A Reading of Clarice Lispector]. Article received: April 23, 2021; Article accepted: July 30, 2021; Published online: October 15, 2021; Original scholarly paper