Reading the 20th Century discussion

Clarice Lispector has come up recently in a few threads and I realised we don't have a dedicated thread - so here it is.

She had an interesting life:

Clarice Lispector was a Brazilian writer. Acclaimed internationally for her innovative novels and short stories, she was also a journalist. Born to a Jewish family in Podolia in Western Ukraine, she was brought to Brazil as an infant, amidst the disasters engulfing her native land following the First World War.

She grew up in northeastern Brazil, where her mother died when she was nine. The family moved to Rio de Janeiro when she was in her teens. While in law school in Rio she began publishing her first journalistic work and short stories, catapulting to fame at age 23 with the publication of her first novel, 'Near to the Wild Heart' (Perto do Coração Selvagem), written as an interior monologue in a style and language that was considered revolutionary in Brazil.

She left Brazil in 1944, following her marriage to a Brazilian diplomat, and spent the next decade and a half in Europe and the United States. Upon return to Rio de Janeiro in 1959, she began producing her most famous works, including the stories of Family Ties (Laços de Família), the great mystic novel The Passion According to G.H. (A Paixão Segundo G.H.), and the novel many consider to be her masterpiece, Água Viva. Injured in an accident in 1966, she spent the last decade of her life in frequent pain, steadily writing and publishing novels and stories until her premature death in 1977.

She has been the subject of numerous books and references to her, and her works are common in Brazilian literature and music. Several of her works have been turned into films, one being 'Hour of the Star' and she was the subject of a recent biography, Why This World, by Benjamin Moser.

There seems to almost be a cult of passionate fans and I would definitely put myself in it.

Feel free to share thoughts, reading experiences, recommendations and anything else Clarice here.

Being an inquisitive reader I became interested after viewing your comments and discovering more on the internet about Clarice Lispector. I discovered my local library had this book on the shelf so I checked it. I doubt I will read all the stories before it’s due back but I’ve made a start. This collection is the perfect intermission from longer books when time is limited.

Backlisted did a good episode about Água Viva (1973)....




Like several of Lispector's remarkable novels, this slim book caused a sensation when first published in her native Brazil in 1973. Exquisitely written and daringly abstract, Água Viva stands as one of its author's masterpieces with Near to the Wild Heart (1943), Family Ties (1960), The Passion According to G.H. (1964) and The Hour of the Star (1977). Joining John and Andy to explore this truly iconic author's life and work are writers Wendy Erskine and David Keenan.



https://www.backlisted.fm/episodes/13...

Susan_MG wrote:


"I became interested after viewing your comments and discovering more on the internet about Clarice Lispector. I discovered my local library had this book on the shelf so I checked it"

Which book Susan?

The Complete Stories, Clarice Lispector, Edited by Miles Moser

Please keep us posted


I am guessing her writing might be quite challenging so curious to discover how you get on

Her later writing can indeed be challenging, Nigey, but the earlier stories in that collection are very accessible while still dealing with the themes and showcasing the unique vision of the later books.

I'm interested in how you get on Susan_MG.

That's reassuring RC


I remember having listened to the Backlisted pod I mentioned that I was not inspired to buy a copy of Água Viva, despite enjoying the discusson. It didn't sound like a book I'd enjoy. All power to CL, and her legion of fans though

I am hopeful that shorter works will be a help to appreciating her creative writing.
I have read 2 of The Complete Stories and found them to be written as free flowing thoughts without pauses or editing. Too soon to tell if I comprehend all or even like reading them. Probably should have started by reading The Woman Who Killed The Fish which is supposed to be written for children.

Thanks for starting the thread, RC. I've read some late Lispector and I'm hoping to fill in some gaps over the next year or so.

Here is a list of Lispector's novels, if it's helpful for anyone. I'm listing the English titles with the date of original publication. Links are to the New Directions editions:
- Near to the Wild Heart (1943)
- The Chandelier (1946)
- The Besieged City (1949)
- The Apple in the Dark (1961)
- The Passion According to G.H. (1964)
- An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures (1968)
- Água Viva (1973)
- The Hour of the Star (1977)
- A Breath of Life (1978)

Clarice Lispector was born in 1920, so her first novel was published when she was 23. For a book regarded as such a classic, that's hard to believe. Her final novel was published posthumously.

For those in the US, New Directions has rights to I believe all of her work: https://www.ndbooks.com/author/claric...

Susan, I have The Complete Stories as well. I found the bibliographical note, tucked way in the back at page 641, to be a helpful starting point.

The early stories (pages 3-107) are mostly from her student days, all written prior to the publication of Near to the Wild Heart. The final stories were found at her death.

The remainder of the volume is a collection of several books of her short fiction, originally published in the 1960s and 70s:
- Family Ties (1960)
- The Foreign Legion (1964)
- Covert Joy (1971)
- Where Were You at Night (1974)
- The Via Cruces of the Body (1974)
- Vision of Splendor: Light Impressions (1975)

Thanks for listing the story collections, David - it's annoying that most of them are not listed on here as separate books as I'd have liked to review them as I read. But the good news is that I'm inspired by this thread to go back to the Complete Stories.

My real-life book group is reading The Passion According to G.H. and I'm fascinated to see what they make of it. This is a group where some expressed some trepidation over Woolf but ended up loving Orlando.

I'll be curious what the book group makes of The Passion According to G.H. (I'm curious what I'll make of it too.)

It looks like Goodreads does have separate entries for each of the collections, listed under their Portuguese titles. It's not ideal, but no one asked me to design Goodreads!
- Lacos de familia
- A Legião Estrangeira
- Felicidade Clandestina
- Onde Estivestes de Noite
- A Via Crucis do Corpo
- Visão do esplendor: impressões leves

The 1974 collections were also published together as "Soulstorm" so there is a separate entry for that as well:
- Soulstorm