Antigone, Power and Diplomacy

• Author: Fernando G. Reis
• Position: Diplomat. Former Director General of the Brazilian Diplomatic Academy (Instituto Rio Branco / M.R.E.). Ambassador to Japan (1996-2001). Published in 2004 the novel 'Falta um Cão na Vida de Kant'.
• Pages: 87-96

Antigone, Power and Diplomacy 87

Antigone, Power and Diplomacy

FERNANDO G. REIS1

“War, it was said, was the extension of diplomacy by other

means. Modern weapons make recourse to war suicidal. It is

thus not aquestion of giving diplomacy achance. Diplomacy

is the only chance we have.”- Drew Middleton (1955)

Resumo

O presente artigo, de forma crítica e inovadora, vez que se utiliza da tragédia

Antígona de Sófocles como elemento literário de reexão, trata do papel da Diplomacia

frente à questão das armas nucleares no mundo contemporâneo.

Abstract

This article deals with the role of Diplomacy in the nuclear weapons age in a

critical and innovative perspective that utilizes the Sophocles’ Antigone tragedy as a

literary tool of reection.

cd

The question of nuclear weapons is back in the press front pages. Not surprisingly,there

is much talk again about internationalcommunity,whatever it is. Diplomacy will have a

chance? We cannot tell right now and Idonot intend to focus on the internationalsituation

as such, important as it is.2This is one of those moments when it is urgent to wait.

Meanwhile we may indulge ourselves, if you will, in remembering Sophocles’

Antigone,not just because it is aclassic but because it is quite relevant today.Itprovides

many lessons and the best evidence is the reception of the play throughout almost 2,500

years, since its rst presentation around 441 BC. It has proven rich enough to please

different tastes and to offer in each case the message that is needed.3

There is a wide consensus that Antigone is a perfect tragedy, that unique humam

creation which symbolizesAthens even more than philosophy, which started elsewhere.

Perfect: out of six named characters, ve die. It is a high rate. Fate, like a shadow,

continues to haunt Thebes. The apple of discord, so to speak, is an untouchable corpse

1Diplomat. Former Director General of the Brazilian Diplomatic Academy (Instituto Rio Branco / M.R.E.).

Ambassador to Japan (1996-2001). Published in 2004 the novel “Falta um Cão na Vida de Kant”.

2This paper was finished on 21st May, 2010.

3Antigones ,George Steiner (1987). The Spanish translation of the book carries asubtitle which is faithful to

Steiner’s tour de force:La travessia de un mito universal por la historia de Occidente.