The construction of identity in relation to the other: A discussion based on a reading of the short stories in Clarice Lispector's "Beauty and the Beast"

This book seeks to broaden the discussion about the formation of identity in the relationship with the other, based on a reading of the short stories in Clarice Lispector's "Beauty and the Beast". The choice of this work as the object of study is mainly due to the fact that the characters' search for recognition of themselves and their own identity recurs in these short stories. We used psychoanalytic theory to analyze the short stories, which, like literature, affirms the power of the unconscious in human motivations, as well as endorsing the importance of affections, fantasies and desires in the process of subjectivation. We realize that, although the literary text is a space that enables many interpretations, it is still incapable of transmitting all the reality that reality contains, and thus recognizes the limits of representation and language, making this the cause of creation. Similarly, it is from their own lack and emptiness that the subject will move towards creating their own identity, and this is where one of the points of greatest convergence with literary art lies.