A Journey to the Self: The Quest for Identity in Clarice Lispector’s Fiction

Abstract

One of the best representatives of Latin American literature, Clarice Lispector has always fascinated her readers. Her novels bring into question some major aesthetic and ideological issues, sometimes under the mask of elaborated textual games implying innovative narrative strategies and a new way of understanding fiction. The Hour of the Star (A hora da estrela, 1977) addresses the problem of identity and storytelling, as well as the complex relationships established among author, narrator, character and reader. The violence which the novel’s protagonist has to face and endure is also an expression of the force of literature. Therefore, the heroine’s death stands for the symbolic birth of fiction, her personal life being permanently mirrored by the metaphorical level of this extraordinary text. The novel progressively turns into an intricate and symbolic journey to the self, Lispector analysing the quest for personal (and artistic) identity and its hidden meanings. [Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http://www.transformativestudies.org ©2023 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]