by Clarice Lispector

Clarice Lispector was born in 1920 in the Ukraine to a family of Slavonic-Jewish descent. Her family relocated to Brazil when Clarice was two months old, and she spent a happy childhood in the beautiful but povertystricken Northeastern city of Recife. In 1932 her family moved south to Rio de Janeiro, where, after completing law school, Lispector became one of her country’s most successful journalists and well-regarded writers. Her first novel, Close to the Savage Heart, was published to critical acclaim when Lispector was only 24 years old. The novel took a radical turn from the regional stories popular in Brazil at the time, and with its help Lispector soon became known for her introspective fiction and its exploration of philosophical, universal themes. Because of her preoccupations with language and philosophy, she was accused at times of being indifferent...