The writing
style of Clarice Lispector
Iconic, different and eccentric are just a few words that
help explain the style of Brazilian Writer Clarice Lispector. She is best known
for books such as Agua Viva, The Apple in
the Dark and Near to the Wild Heart, all of which are constructed using her
bizarre but effective flair.
If you are unfamiliar with Clarice Lispector, why not read a
profile on her at
www.blogs.transparent.com/portuguese/brazilian-profile-clarice-lispector/
Her works seem to have little in the way of traditional
narrative structure and tone, for example Agua Viva. It feels a lot like an
internal monologue, jumbled, loosely connected thoughts that don’t appear to
exist for the sake of the reader’s enjoyment. This, in itself is not
necessarily a bad thing, as Lispector’s tone in confident and interesting
enough to hold the reader’s interest. She writes for herself, and isn’t
concerned with what others think of her work. As a Jewish writer hailing from
Brazil she has been compared to Kafka in terms of
cultural importance. The fame she has accumulated demonstrates that as a
writer, one is capable of freeing their mind and producing fascinating work
when you free yourself of reader expectations.
When reading her novels, it is clear that Lispector writes
what she thinks and as she thinks it, like a stream of consciousness. This
makes her style seem uncensored and personal, as if we are seeing her thoughts
translated into words on a page. This is made even more interesting as she has
a very philosophical approach. Constantly questioning the world and how she
perceives it to be through rhetorical questions and a direct approach to the
reader, possibly due to her writing being influenced by French philosophers
Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. One of her most famous quotes states “I
can’t sum myself up because it’s impossible to add up a chair and two apples.
I’m a chair and two apples. And I don’t add up.” This quote would not look out
of place in Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, however it is these
philosophical ideologies that allows her work to become captivating. This could be a reference to her
pre-mentioned blurred origins or her mental state, however it may also be what
controls what she writes and what her novels are based on. I found when reading
her works, that there was always more being said than just words. Whether it be
her ideology disguised through her stories or concepts that could not just be said
with language.
It has been said that Lispector was never really a fan of
language. She believed that it was too restricting and instead of being free
and creative, we are all just repeating what has already been said. This
attitude is clearly displayed through her works as many extracts from her work
are not completely sound in terms of grammar and structuring, however they are
highly effective in getting across the voice of the reader.
“And she could smell as if it were right beneath her nose the
warm, hardpacked earth, so fragrant and dry, where she just knew, she just knew
a worm or two was having a stretch before being eaten by the hen that the
people were going to eat.”
This rather striking extract comes from her novel Near to the Wild Heart. It is striking
for two reasons, the first is that it is a very long sentence, which contains
several commas that on the outset look very misplaced and jumbled. Additionally
not many people start sentences with ‘and’, which is more commonly seen to be a
connective which may tie up both ends of a compound sentence. However the
second reason for why this is striking is that what she does in terms of
grammar, punctuation and structure works. When reading the text and how it is
written, it makes you feel like an improvising storyteller. The stream of
consciousness is again visibly in full flow here, but when you see Lispector
and her demeanour, you can imagine her telling this and someone just writing
what she says and exactly how she says it, for example her pauses and fillers.
(If you are unfamiliar with what Lispector’s demeanour is, I
have attached an interview to the bottom of the page for you to watch and
enjoy.)
Her distinctiveness and uniqueness is what makes Lispector
standout. If you are looking for a book to challenge you and make you look
beyond what you are reading, then I definitely would recommend her novels. They
make thoughts deepen, brains function and eyes open to what you can achieve
through having your own fascinating writer’s voice.
Clarice Lispector interview – www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1zwGLBpULs
www.openlettersmonthly.com
Annabel
read two pieces of her short fiction, one which wonderfully tackled the prickly
second-person narrative. With her supple prose, she showed breadth in address
and style and after each reading, discussed how she placed the piece within the
literary landscape. 