Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
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AnnaKlobucka
euficomuito
Quando Eusdexisto
eundoexisto.
sozinha, nodidlogo.
ClariceLispector
Ntodeixar
personnemedando desordres.
ClariceLispector1
Une BelleLoveAffaire
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circuit
H0l0nedue preciselyto Cixous's passionatelypersonalinvolvement
in the propagationof Lispector'swritings.Althoughhailed by Brazilian
criticsand scholarsas one of the most remarkableliteraryfiguresof this
century,equalled in her statureonly by Joao GuimarAesRosa, Lispector
would likelyremainmoreor less unknownon theinternational scenewere
it not forher sudden stardom,triggeredby Cixous's recognitionin her
work of an "outstandingillustrationof 'femininewriting"'(Sellers 6).
Thus,particularlyin Americanacademia,Lispector'sgrowingprominence
has become closelyassociated withthedisseminationof the theoriesand
practicesof theFrenchliteraryand criticalcurrentof &criture
feminine.The
followingfragmentof a scholarlyarticleneatly,if somewhatdrastically,
exemplifiesthissituation:
Americanreadershave recentlystartedto look criticallyat what
proponents of6criture havetosayabouttheory,
frminine women'swriting,
and women'scauses-social,politicaland economic. Cixous'stextsand
statementsarereceiving
greaterandgreater disseminationhere.Givenher
currententhusiasm forLispector,we shouldlookat Lispector's as
texts,
inordertounderstand
well-first, Cixous'senthusiasm forthem;second,to
seean exampleofthe6criture
ffminine thatCixouscalledforinthe"Rirede
la M&iuse."Wemight alsosee in Lispector's
texts...an indication
ofthe
furtherdevelopmentofCixous'sowntexts. (Armbruster 155)
Some othersare clearlymore equal than otherothers.The interest
Lispector'sworks mighthold for feministliterarycriticsis reduced by
Armbruster to theirprovidingan interesting gloss of Cixous's own ideas,
and Lispectorherselfis seen as a successful(ifunconscious)apprenticeof
&criture
fminine:
Lispector welltoa number
responds ofCixous'sexhortations,
forexample,
forwomento write, to writeaboutwomen,to liberate
theNewWoman
fromtheOld,toinscribethebreath
ofthewholewoman, tobring womento
writing.Cixoushas thusfoundin Lispector
something of a soul mate.
(152-3).
Whetheras masterand apprenticeor as soul mates,Cixous and Lispector
are clearlyseen as almostone and thesame. AnothercritictermsLispector
a "Cixousian" writerand assertsthatwhile "Clarice Lispector'swriting
appears different fromCixous'. . . it is one and the same, by the com-
monality oftheirvision" (Fisher25). Even a criticlikeSusan Suleiman,who
is carefuland suspicious enough to inquire whethersuch "findingthe
'unhoped-forother'[is not]but a way offindingone's otherself,"ultimate-
ly declaresthetwo authorsto be
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In thecontextofsuchdisregard forLispector's
non-Cixousian linguis-
ticand substantiveautonomy, it is highlyironicthatArmbruster should
praise theBrazilianwriter's to
ability approach Otherness in a spiritof
cautiousandrespectful "Her
inquiry: writing receives
theother in itsliving
totalityand attempts
torelateitslifeand fullnessthrough a languagethat
callsandnamesitwithout possessing ordominating it,without transform-
ing itin any way,and without itsdifference"
denying (151;myemphasis).By
readingofLispector,
Ambruster's
contrast, itselfimplicitly
modelling on
the French-English
dualityof Vivrel'orange/To
Live theOrange,ends up
perpetuatingwhatNancyK. Millerhas termed"theold Franco-American
gameofbinaryoppositions" (18).Whilereaching work
outto Lispector's
seemsto respondto Miller'sexhortation
"tolookelsewhere, beyondthe
inevitablemetropolitan for
references, differentlocation and material,
beyondtheexclusions ofanother,feminist'alreadyread"'(21),thetreat-
mentaccordedto her writingmakesthatinclusioncontingent on the
Brazilianwriter's
becoming assimilated
to the modelscreated the
by very
"metropolitan"voicewhichfindsinhera sourceofitsownrenewal.
How toWritetheOther:Lispector's
TheHouroftheStar
As I havealreadyimplied,
themainpointofthematic correspondence
betweenLispector andCixousis thealmostobsessivelyexploreddilemma
of approaching, to,and interpreting
relating theOther.Lispector'smost
extraordinaryachievementinthis is
respect her novel
penultimate (and the
last one publishedbeforeherdeath),A horada estrela(TheHouroftheStar).
In thismetafictionalwork,a malewriter/narrator namedRodrigoS.M.
discusseshiscreationofa femaleprotagonist,Macabea.7Thewriter Clarice
Lispector also includes "herself"in the discourseof the novel: "The
Author'sDedication"carriesa parenthetical subtitle"(in truthClarice
Lispector)."Thisis a very"Lispectorian"touch;as MartaPeixotonotes,
"fromthemidsixties references
on,autobiographical frequently intrudein
Lispector's fictional
narratives,disrupting systematicallythe fictional
pretensewithwhatwe mightcallautobiographical pretense." Peixotothen
goes on to comment on "theequivocalcross-gender connection between
Lispectorand hermale narrator":
Shegiveshima masculine hegiveshermaleblood:'mybloodofa
identity;
maninhisprime'.Theauthoris a womanwhoassumesa malemaskand
thenarrator
themaskofa femaleauthor.
(193)
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NOTES
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WORKSCITED
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