Wittgenstein on pain in dialogue with Fernando Pessoa, Franz Kafka and Clarice Lispector

Wittgenstein does not offer a clear definition of pain. In his late work, e specially in the Philosophical Investigations, he discusses the term pain i n such a way, that stresses the general uncertainty and vagueness. This, he argues, is not only a characteristic of pain but of language in general: P ain seen in this way is a Sprachspiel among other Sprachspiele. Wittgenstei n is interested in ' how it works', and he denies that pain is or has a sub stance. Nobody can know what another person exactly means when she/he says that she/he feels pain. But nevertheless it is interesting to investigate h ow pain is expressed. This point of view is also valuable for aesthetic que stions. In the second part the essay discusses texts of Fernando Pessoa, Fr anz Kafka and Clarice Lispector. All of them offer dense images of pain and a relationship between Wittgenstein's idea of pain and these literary text s is established.