The Death of Oneself and the Meaning of Life in “Nero” by Miguel Torga

• Published in: Anafora (Osijek, Croatia) Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. 395 - 414
• Main Authors: De Castro Soares, Maria João, De Castro Soares, Maria Luísa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• ISSN: 1849-2339; 2459-5160
• DOI: 10.29162/ANAFORA.v10i2.9

The paper aims to analyze the tale “Nero,” from the work Bichos by Miguel Torga. In this work, some emphasis is firstly given to the relations of implication between the man, the environment, and the work of the poet originating from Trás‐os‐Montes, who gives voice to the Tellus Mater—that is, to “Mother Earth” (Feijó 167–84; Soares 293–303). Secondly, the work focuses on the questions of finitude and the meaning of life. In the form of an analepsis, an autodiegetic gaze of the partridge dog Nero turns to the past and, at the moment of its death, remembers the main events of its existence while recognizing that it was worth living. Written in 1940—to wit, in the context of the Portuguese dictatorship of the New State—the tale “Nero” thus alerts the reader to the value of life but also to its finitude and to the importance of building a meaningful existence, which transits through responsibility, freedom, the definition of goals, and personal choices. Rad ima za cilj analizirati priču „Nero” iz djela Bichos Miguela Torge. Naglasak je stavljen na odnose implikacije između čovjeka, okoliša i djela pjesnika koji potječe iz Trás-os-Montesa, koji daje glas Tellus Mater, odnosno „Majci Zemlji“ (Feijó 167–84; Soares 293–303). Rad je također fokusiran na pitanja konačnosti i smisla života. U obliku analepse, autodijegetički pogled drentskog ptičara Nerona okreće se prema prošlosti i u trenutku smrti prisjeća se glavnih događaja svog postojanja, prepoznavajući da su bili vrijedni življenja. Napisana 1940. godine – točnije, u kontekstu portugalske diktature Nove države – priča „Nero” upozorava čitatelja na vrijednost života, ali i na njegovu konačnost i na važnost izgradnje smislene egzistencije, koja se prenosi kroz odgovornost, slobodu, definiranje ciljeva i osobne izbore.