“I write and that way rid myself of me and then at last I can rest.”

August 5, 2015 6:40 AM

A Passion for the Void: Understanding Clarice Lispector’s Strange and Surreal Fiction. [The New Republic]

Plenty of writers inspire fierce devotion in their readers—the David Foster Wallace acolytes, with their duct-taped copies of Infinite Jest, come to mind, as do the smug objectivists dressed in tech-world casual who owe their entire world view to Ayn Rand. But no one converts the uninitiated into devout believers as suddenly and as vertiginously as Clarice Lispector, the Latin-American visionary, Ukranian-Jewish mystic, and middle-class housewife and mother so revered by her Brazilian fans that she's known by a single name: "Clarice."

Related Articles:
- Stephanie LaCava on The Complete Stories [LA Review of Books]
- The Unusual Mind of Clarice Lispector: The Brazilian writer’s Complete Stories reveals she was a genius on the level of Nabokov. [Slate.com]
- The True Glamour of Clarice Lispector by Benjamin Moser [New Yorker]
- ‘The Complete Stories,’ by Clarice Lispector [New York Times Book Review]
- Clarice Lispector: 'Morbidly insensitive' Nearly 40 years after her death, the Brazilian novelist is now compared to Joyce and Borges. But do her radical works deserve such praise? [The Telegraph]
- My Hour of the Star: On Clarice Lispector [The Millions]
- The Dark Logic of Clarice Lispector [VICE]
- Mystic Goddess of Brazil: Writer Clarice Lispector’s exoticism had much to do with her Jewishness; her literary vocabulary did not. [Tablet]
- Lipstick Traces: Novelist Clarice Lispector's Radiant Nothingness. [Book Forum]
- Anderson Tepper on Near to the Wild Heart [Tin House]
- Kim Adrian on The Passion According to G.H. [Tin House]
- The Strange Spirituality of Clarice Lispector by Sam Gold [The L Magazine]

Videos:
- Clarice Lispector Panel at the Center for Fiction [YouTube][Part 1] [Part 2]
- Benjamin Moser on translating Clarice Lispector [YouTube]
- Clarice Lispector Interviewed [YouTube]

Excerpted Short Stories:
- Remnants of Carnival by Clarice Lispector [Vogue.com]
- Two Stories by Clarice Lispector [The Paris Review]
- Clandestine Happiness by Clarice Lispector [BOMB]
- First Kiss by Clarice Lispector [BOMB]
- Good Friends by Clarice Lispector [BOMB]
-'Report on the Thing' by Clarice Lispector [VICE]
- Monkeys by Clarice Lispector [Guernica Magazine]
- One Day Less by Clarice Lispector [Harper's Magazine]
- Covert Joy by Clarice Lispector [Tin House]
- Praça Mauá by Clarice Lispector [Tin House]
- Better Than Burning by Clarice Lispector [Tin House]

posted by Fizz (7 comments total)

Confession: I only just started reading Clarice Lispector last night. I purchased a copy of The Complete Stories and suddenly found myself in the middle of the night reading like a madman. A brilliant writer.
posted by Fizz at 7:33 AM on August 5, 2015

Fantastic, I've never heard of her, can't wait to explore her work. Thanks!
posted by dejah420 at 8:03 AM on August 5, 2015

Thanks for this post. I have been aware of Clarice for several years, but just needed a nudge to start reading her work.
posted by OHenryPacey at 9:08 AM on August 5, 2015

I have been aware of Clarice for several years, but just needed a nudge to start reading her work.

I was the same way and with the publication of her Complete Stories, I found myself unable to keep on ignoring her works and their influence. So I decided to purchase and read. She brings to mind the works of Lydia Davis, though a bit more cosmopolitan and worldly. But similar in style.
posted by Fizz at 9:13 AM on August 5, 2015

Awesome post--thank you! The Hour of the Star (Pontiero translation) was one of the best things I read in grad school. I understand Moser's translations are supposed to be great, and I look forward to reading these stories.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 9:37 AM on August 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

Excellent post. I've been meaning to read more of her work.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 10:12 AM on August 5, 2015

oh i missed this and was just thinking of making a post myself. thank-you for the work here.

there's also several articles at quarterly conversation (all linked from that article, lower down, which is the editor's blog).
posted by andrewcooke at 2:07 PM on August 23, 2015