The One Who Wants It A Reading of Manuel António Pina Through the Eyes of Nietzsche

Abstract

The poet Manuel António Pina was a close reader of Nietzsche, incorporating some of his philosophical ideas in his own poetry. The objective of this article is to reflect on Pina’s poetical opus Aquele que quer morrer (1978) through the presence of Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical literature The Gay Science (Die fröhliche Wissenschaft, 1882-87). Furthermore, this presence allows us to recognise the porous border shared by philosophy and poetry, where these two authors encounter one another. The article concludes that Nietzsche’s philosophical discourse is contaminated by the poetic one and that Pina’s poetic discourse allows itself to be contaminated by Nietzschean philosophy. Metaphor, allegory, irony and self-reflexivity are the most shared operative tools by these authors.