Dimensions of the Impersonal in Clarice Lispector

This book explores the fictional work of Clarice Lispector (1920–1977), the eminent 20th-century Brazilian writer. It employs the theoretical framework of "affirmative biopolitics" by Roberto Esposito, engaging with Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben, alongside voices like Mircea Eliade, Anthony Giddens, and Agata Bielik-Robson. The focus is on rethinking and valuing “impersonality,” crucial for understanding the anthropological, metaphysical, ethical, and political implications in Lispector's works. The main thesis posits that Lispector’s writings, from journalistic chronicles to significant books like The Passion According to G.H., present a complex anthropological vision marked by an ontological and ethical “deadlock” between personality and impersonality. This vision suggests that humans are trapped in a personal mode of existence, separated from their ontological essence, leading to a metaphysical guilt. The book analyzes this deadlock both in individual and communal-political contexts, highlighting the cryptotheological dimension in Lispector’s mystical and messianic themes rooted in Jewish tradition.

Sawala’s journey into “impersonality” in Lispector’s work offers a profound insight on the hiatus between subjectivity and “life itself,” that is, the “inhuman” areas of existence. His singular analysis enhances our understanding of modernist literature while illuminating significant ethical implications. It is, thus, an essential contribution to contemporary literary debates.

– Diana Klinger, Associate Professor of Literary Theory, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil

With a fresh and au courant theoretical approach, this study underscores incisively and masterfully Clarice Lispector’s ideological concerns regarding the invisible and unjust social and racial relations in Brazil which, for the most part, have heretofore been critically scant or neglected in her work.

– Nelson H. Vieira, University Professor and Professor of Portuguese & Brazilian Studies and Judaic Studies, Brown University, USA

Wojciech Sawala is assistant professor in the Department of Portuguese at Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan, Poland. Comparatist and Latin Americanist, specializes in the continent’s 20th century narrative classics, including Borges, Cortázar, Lispector and Guimarães Rosa. His research interests include biopolitics, postsecularism and Jewish messianism.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.