Che cos'è la poesia?

by Jacques Derrida, Osvaldo Manuel Silvestre (Trad. por)

Publicado inicialmente na revista italiana Poesia, em Novembro de 1988, e tendo preservado dessa publicação inicial o título em italiano, Che cos’è la poesia? viria depois a ser recolhido no volume Points de Suspension, em 1992.
Trata-se de uma das mais idiossincráticas reflexões sobre a poesia na obra de Derrida, uma obra na qual a poesia, e mais latamente essa «estranha instituição chamada literatura», ocupou um lugar crescente a partir de final dos anos 70.

10 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher best known for developing deconstruction, a method of critical analysis that questioned the stability of meaning in language, texts, and Western metaphysical thought. Born in Algeria, he studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he was influenced by philosophers such as Heidegger, Husserl, and Levinas. His groundbreaking works, including Of Grammatology (1967), Writing and Difference (1967), and Speech and Phenomena (1967), positioned him at the center of intellectual debates on language, meaning, and interpretation.
Derrida argued that Western philosophy was structured around binary oppositions—such as speech over writing, presence over absence, or reason over emotion—that falsely privileged one term over the other. He introduced the concept of différance, which suggests that meaning is constantly deferred and never fully present, destabilizing the idea of fixed truth. His work engaged with a wide range of disciplines, including literature, psychoanalysis, political theory, and law, challenging conventional ways of thinking and interpretation.
Throughout his career, Derrida continued to explore ethical and political questions, particularly in works such as Specters of Marx (1993) and The Politics of Friendship (1994), which addressed democracy, justice, and responsibility. He held academic positions at institutions such as the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and the University of California, Irvine, and remained an influential figure in both European and American intellectual circles. Despite criticism for his complex writing style and abstract concepts, Derrida’s ideas have left a lasting impact on contemporary philosophy, literary theory, and cultural criticism, reshaping the way meaning and language are understood in the modern world.