The Word in the Dark: Passion, Quest and Identity in the Universe of Clarice Lispector

This seminar will examine the major novels, short story collections, and crônicas by the Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector and analyze the development of her literary voice and her unique use of language. Reading her work through and beyond the existential, feminist and poststructuralist views manifested in the best critical and theoretical analyses of her work, this seminar will focus especially upon her passionate struggle with language as well as her genre-breaking narratives, alongside her ontological quest for narrative subjectivity. Seminar presentations and papers will explore these issues with the aim of understanding Clarice's spiritual and philosophical impulses as well as her original linguistic contribution to Brazilian and World Literatures. Conducted in Portuguese.