The Complete Stories
SynopsisPlot
The recent publication by New Directions of five Lispector novels revealed to legions of new readers her darkness and dazzle. Now, for the first time in English, are all the stories that made her a Brazilian legend: from teenagers coming into awareness of their sexual and artistic powers to humdrum housewives whose lives are shattered by unexpected epiphanies to old people who don’t know what to do with themselves. Clarice’s stories take us through their lives―and ours.
Story
About this book
Clarice Lispector is one of the most prominent figures in Brazilian literature, and this volume gathers every short story from the nine collections she published during her lifetime. The pieces span her whole working life, from writing done in adolescence to work made near its end. Set out in order of time, they follow one writer's development across several decades.
The subjects cover a wide human range. Some stories center on young people becoming aware of desire and creative ambition. Others turn to domestic life, where routine is broken by sudden, disorienting moments of clarity. Still others watch older characters who are unsure what to do with the time they have. Much of the tension comes from interior experience rather than outward event.
This English edition was published by New Directions, which had earlier issued five of her novels in translation and brought her fiction to a new set of readers. Before it appeared, the stories were scattered across separate volumes or had not been translated at all. Lispector wrote in Portuguese, and her stories made her a celebrated figure in Brazil.
