Clarice Lispector

(1925-1977)

Group Members

• Candice Miller• Justin Thompson• Clark Harrell

BIOGRAPHY

Clarice Lispector

•Born on Decemeber 10, 1925, In Tchetchelik, which is a small town in Ukraine.

•Her parents were Russian Jewish immigrants.

•Brought to Brazil as an infant.

•Family moved to Rio de Janiero when she was in her teens.

•Went to law school in 1939

•Left Brazil in 1944 with her husband Maury Valente.

•Wounded in an accident in 1966.

•premature death in 1977.

•Clarice was influenced by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Hermann Hesse, and Katherine Mansfield.

•She was known for writing short stories and having the same writing style as Virginia Woolf.

Her Works

The Day Dreams Of a Drunken Woman. Translated by Giovanni Pontiero. Family Ties (1960). Won the Jabuti Prize. Apple in The Dark (1961). Won the Carmen Dolores Barbosa prize.

Brazilian History and Culture

Brazil’s History•Brazil is the only Latin American

nation that develops its language and culture from Portugal.

• Pedro Alvares Cabral claimed the territory for Portugal in 1500.

•Cultural life appears to have been richly developed, although both tribal warfare and cannibalism were everywhere.

•Portuguese settlers frequently intermarried with both the Indians and the African slaves.

•Brazilian dialect has become the main influence in the development of the Portuguese language.

Women In Society

•Women were allowed open access to schools and employment around the turn of the century and suffrage on a national level in 1933, they were not on an equal footing with men in family affairs.

•Men were automatically heads of households, and married women were legally subordinate to their husbands. Because of the inconvenience caused by informal remarriage, divorce was made legal in 1977.

20th Century Writers in Brazil

•A new generation of writers and poets began to show up in the mid-1940’s

•Saw an increase in the number of women and black authors being published

•Stories of oppression and slavery were replaced with multicultural identity stories

•Due to the negative image portrayed of women and blacks there is little information and history

INTERPRETATION

“The Daydreams of a Drunk Woman”

Character Maria Quiterra- Is a young married woman with two children who spends most of her days in a drunken state.Due to her jealousy she is very critical of other women.

For example,Maria becomes enraged when her eyes fall upon a blonde woman, one “whom she had instantly detested the moment she had entered the room (2807)”.

Summary Maria Quiterra is a young married woman with two children who spends most of her days in a drunken state.Jealous and critical of other womenLives in a constant battle of self-perceptionFascinated with herselfSpends her days drunk, in and out of consciousnessTormented by emotional highs and lows

IdentityHer identity appears fragmented, a self-image either in pieces or swollen and unreachable.

The triple mirror she gazes into symbolizes her fragmented emotional self.

Lispector’s Literary

style•Lispector focuses on human experience and the relationship between humans and their conflicts.

•She is known for her character’s internal narration.

•Internationally known for her descriptions of psychological states of mind.

•Lispector is compared to Virginia Woolf in the way that she portrays the external world and explore sensual perceptions through her character’s innermost thoughts and feelings.

•Her style has been called a “feminine writing”

Works Cited•Aviv, Rachel. “Clarice Lispector.” The Nation. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.Ceasar, Ed.

•“Clarice Lispector.” Times Online. N.p., 20 Nov. 1999. Web. 9 Nov. 2009. <http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ tol/ arts_and_entertainment>.

•“Clarice Lispector.” Wikipedia. N.p., 28 May 1990. Web. 9 Nov. 2009. <http://wikipedia.org/ wiki/ clarice_lispector>.

•“Clarice Lispector(Images).” Google. N.p., 15 Oct. 1988. Web. 10 Nov. 2009. <http://images.google.com/ images?claricelispector.

•Gutierrez, Rachel. “Clarice Lispector.” Clarice Lispector (English Version). N.p., 24 Oct. 1999. Web. 9 Nov. 2009. <http://www.vidaslusofonas.pt/ clarice_lispector>.

•Lawall, Sarah. The Norton Anthropology of World Literature. N.p.: Maynard Mack, 2002. Print.