Clarice Lispector

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Biography

Clarice Lispector was born in Chechelnik, Ukraine in 1920/1924/1925 (neither she nor her biographers seem to be sure which). However, when she was very young, her family moved to Brazil, specifically to Recife. Her mother died when she was young and, shortly afterwards, the family moved to Rio de Janeiro. Her family had financial difficulties and she started to work as a teacher but was able to study law. When her father died, however, she went to work as an editor, though she was able to finish her legal studies after she married. Her husband, Mauri Gurgel Valente, worked in the Brazilian Foreign Service. Her first novel was published in 1944 and, shortly afterwards, she and her husband moved to Italy, where she was painted by De Chirico. In 1948 her son, Pedro, was born in Switzerland. She started work on A maçã no escuro (The Apple in the Dark) in Torquay, England, before returning to Rio via Washington D.C. in 1950.

In 1953 she moved to the United States where she met Erico Veríssimo. They remained friends and started an extensive correspondence. In 1959 she and her husband separated and she returned to Rio. As well as writing novels and short stories, she also wrote for the newspapers. In 1967 she was badly burned after a fire in her apartment and nearly died. She died in 1977.

Books about Clarice Lispector

Maria Jose S. Barbosa: Clarice Lispector Spinning the Webs of Passion
Earl E. Fitz: Clarice Lispector
Nadia Gotlib: Clarice: uma vida que se conta (in Portuguese)
Diane Marting: Clarice Lispector A Bio-bibliography
Teresa Montero: Eu sou uma pergunta – uma biografia de Clarice Lispector (in Portuguese)
Benjamin Moser: Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector

Bibliography

1944 Perto do Coração Selvagem (Near to the Wild Heart) (novel)
1946 O lustre (The Chandelier) (novel)
1949 A cidade sitiada (The Besieged City) (novel)
1952 Alguns contos (stories)
1960 Laços de família (Family Ties) (stories) (Book includes Devaneio e embriaguez duma rapariga, translated as Daydream and Drunkenness of a Young Lady in a short Penguin collection of that name)
1961 A maçã no escuro (The Apple in the Dark) (novel)
1964 A legião estrangeira (The Foreign Legion: Stories and Chronicles)
1964 A paixão segundo G.H. (The Passion according to G.H. ) (novel)
1967 O mistério do coelho pensante (children’s)
1969 Uma aprendizagem ou livro dos prazeres (An Apprenticeship or The Book of Delights; later: An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures) (novel)
1969 A mulher que matou os peixes (The Woman Who Killed the Fish & Other Stories for Children) (children’s)
1971 Felicidade clandestina (stories)
1973 A imitação da rosa (stories)
1973 A vida íntima de Laura (children’s)
1973 Água viva (The Stream of Life) (novel)
1974 A via-crucis do corpo (stories)
1974 Onde estivestes de noite? (Where Were You at Night?) (stories)
1975 De corpo inteiro (interviews)
1975 Visão do esplendor (articles)
1977 A hora da estrela (The Hour of the Star) (novel)
1978 Para não esquecer (stories)
1978 Quase de verdade (children’s)
1978 Um sopro de vida (A Breath of Life) (novel)
1979 A bela e a fera (stories)
1984 A descoberta do mundo (Discovering the World; US: Selected Cronicas) (articles)
1987 Como nasceram as estrelas (children’s)
1989 Soulstorm: Stories
2004 Aprendendo a viver (selection from A descoberta do mundo (Discovering the World))
2005 Outros escritos (various writings)
2006 Correio feminino (various articles from women’s magazines)
2006 Só para mulheres: conselhos, receitas e segredos (articles from newspapers, mainly published under a pseudonym)
2007 Entrevistas (interviews)
2007 Minhas queridas (selection from her correspondence)
2015 The Complete Stories
2022 Too Much of Life: The Complete Crônicas

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The world-wide literary novel from early 20th Century onwards