Selected Cronicas - Softcover

Clarice Lispector

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811213404 ISBN 13: 9780811213400

Publisher: New Directions, 1996

Synopsis

"Clarice Lispector was a born writer....she writes with sensuous verve, bringing her earliest passions into adult life intact, along with a child's undiminished capacity for wonder."―The New York Times Book Review

"In 1967, Brazil's leading newspaper asked the avant-garde writer Lispector to write a weekly column on any topic she wished. For almost seven years, Lispector showed Brazilian readers just how vast and passionate her interests were. This beautifully translated collection of selected columns, or crônicas, is just as immediately stimulating today and ably reinforces her reputation as one of Brazil's greatest writers. Indeed, these columns should establish her as being among the era's most brilliant essayists. She is masterful, even reminiscent of Montaigne, in her ability to spin the mundane events of life into moments of clarity that reveal greater truths."―Publishers Weekly

About this title

Review:

Selected Crônicas gathers the newspaper columns of the Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector. This collection captures Lispector's gifted voice and supplies a view of Brazil from her childhood, after her Ukrainian parents emigrated there, until the last of her columns in 1973. The stories in this volume are colored with childhood memories and a belief in the redemptive promise of justice. Brazilian newspapers have a history of intellectual journalism, although the period during which Lispector wrote these crônicas was defined by military dictatorship, censorship of the press, and political repression. It was also a time of rapid economic growth, and amid these varied pressures, she played the role of conscience, reminding her readers of unshakeable memories and unmovable truths. What Lispector had to say could only be conveyed in a literary manner for the most pragmatic of reasons, but her delightful stories suggest it was the best means no matter what she had been permitted.

About the Author:

Clarice Lispector (1920–1977), the greatest Brazilian writer of the twentieth century, has been called “astounding” (Rachel Kushner), “a penetrating genius” (Donna Seaman, Booklist), and “a truly remarkable writer” (Jonathan Franzen). “Her images dazzle even when her meaning is most obscure,” noted the Times Literary Supplement, “and when she is writing of what she despises, she is lucidity itself.” 

Giovanni Pontiero (1932–1996) was the ablest translator of twentieth century literature in Portuguese and one of its most ardent advocates. He was the principal translator into English of the works of José Saramago and was awarded the Teixeira-Gomes Prize for his translation of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ.

About this edition

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0811213404
• ISBN 13: 9780811213400
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296