Point of View in Clarice Lispector's "A Hora da Estrela" Author(s): Earl E. Fitz Source: Luso-Brazilian Review, Vol.

19, No. 2 (Winter, 1982), pp. 195-208 Published by: University of Wisconsin Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3513128 . Accessed: 03/10/2011 10:03
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Point Clarice

of

View

in A

Lispector's

Hora

da

Estrela

Earl E. Fitz
has asked if, in A Hora da Estrela Eduardo Portella (1977), we are seeing a new or different Clarice Lispector.1 Portella, himself a critic aware of Lispector's intimately steady developanswers his own question ment as an artist, with both a "yes" and What he means is, a "no." there are certain new elethat, "yes," ments present in this final but that, has not novel, "no," Clarice But while Portella, a long-time really changed all that much. friend does take note of the three of Clarice different Lispector, that bind this work together, levels of meaning, or significance, he does not elaborate on what turns out to be the most salient feature of the entire its sustained and carefully orchesnovel, trated with the issue of point of view. The emiexperimentation is quite in observing nent Brazilian critic correct that the is told, manner in which a story the way it moves from the of the characters, of the author, the actions creativity through and into the mind of the reader, has always been of concern to renowned for her style and Clarice a writer widely Lispector, technical brilliance. But given the truth of this, there remains of exactly how this the need for a more detailed examination last more than a month before the work, published just a little deals with the workings death from cancer, of the comauthor's multi-faceted that system of structural plex, inter-relationships we know as point of view. Latin America for her sensifamous throughout Long and justly of human consciousness, Clarice tive, penetrating explorations a series created of stylistically hermetic, rigorous, Lispector and often novels and short stories that dealt, characenigmatic with the workings of the mind. objects, teristically, Physical in 0 Lustre or the presence of such as those encountered (1946), an external such as that depicted in A Cidade Sitiada milieu, within or A Maca no Escuro (1961), function her fictive (1949) universe in a way that reminds us of T. S. Eliot's understanding that is, an object, of the "objective or correlative," situation, and concretely, the mood or state of action that, visibly conveys to evoke in the reader. mind that the author wishes For Eliot, Luso-Brazilian Review XIX, 2 0024-7413/82/0195 $1.50

? 1982 by the of the University

Board of Regents of Wisconsin System

195

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the "objective as for Lispector, correlative" is the vehicle by means of which emotion can be expressed in the objectivity of the art form, the only way the author can conjure the up and express in the reader without response proper emotional having to resort of that response. a number to a direct statement In this sense, of Clarice's the protagonist of A Hora da characters, including show themselves like J. Alfred Prufrock or to be rather EstreZa, in whose minds Malte Laurids Rilke's beings hypersensitive Brigge, and actions sets off a series of osthe outer world of objects about flashes of silent, anxious uncontrolled speculation tensibly of identity and being. the twin problems However, we should not in view of the author's well-known forget, concerns, ontological the three dimensional world. that Clarice never ignored Lispector To the contrary, she made use of it in a constant and unique way, one that would link together of them, and our perceptions objects, the impressions and unconscious minds. they make on our conscious as Lispector was at the heart of the process understood This, it, is formed, and it represents the all imby which a human identity between much of what is "new" in A Hora da EstreZa bridge portant in her earlier and that which we have grown accustomed to seeing Her fascination with the always changing bework. relationship in part, tween the inner and outer world also explains, why we are so strongly, of the French "nouveau roman," reminded at times, as practiced and Nathalie Sarraute, especially by Robbe-Grillet the latter close in terms of her to Lispector being especially manner of characterization. in the objects But Clarice's interest of the external abiding minds also reworld and the effect they have upon our sentient for us the nature and function of phenomenology in Lispeccalls orientafictional world. Her distinctly tor's phenomenological life and literature involves a synthesis of object tion towards a process in which a single human mind, and one's awareness of it, and the that of her protagonist, becomes both the subject usually this of the act of cognition, of understanding. But while object element in her work, has always been a vital kind of preoccupation it must be noted that the novel in question A Hora da here, focuses on some overt social as well, issues EstreZa, specificalof a certain northly, on the chronic plight type of Brazilian of the who undertakes a journey to the great cities easterner life. But in this particular south in search of a better novel, we are led, and in typical additionally, fashion, Lispectorian a described into the mind of a realistically young "nordestina," for us and for the author the continued woman who represents one rich and healthy, the other of the "two Brazils," presence and that of protagonist In this double role, poor and sickly. in this novel reminds us of the Clarice's main character symbol, realities of the Northeast innumerable tragic ways the harsh, not only the land but the people as well. The image of the blight is thus constantly and psychologically, wasteland, geographically the central or controlling image of becoming, finally, expressed, A We can see, in a certain work. the entire sense, then, that, for of emphasis shows itself Hora da Estrela to be more of a shift

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197

a different Clarice approach to get at an old concern, Lispector, and conbetween the tenuous existence, language, relationship new tack or development. than it is any radically sciousness, of the narironic function the openly And yet, as we shall see, and the with the protagonist and his dual relationship rator, to of narrative new element adds a startlingly complexity reader, with one of the here to deal directly elects Clarice this work. or the unreliable, of modern narrative: features most singular with her at how well she succeeded In looking narrator. fallible, we are able to get a better perspective point of view experiments, as an artist, and maturing, on how she was growing, something work. last of this to our appreciation which is crucial than is less of A Hora de EstreZa The style lyrical unabashedly but it does continue Viva (1973), its immediate predecessor, Agua for extracting with Clarice's every bit of connotative penchant icons. and denotative simple verbal meaning out of apparently Guimaraes Rosa, always understood a writer who, like Lispector, for literand its pivotal of language both the mystery importance in this work a kind of the novel form, creates ature, especially and of a certain tale a mimetic place regionalism, allegorical to this But in addition time but one that turns in on itself. of the structure links Lispector hybridism, literary fascinating act of what the creative novel to an ongoing discussion the entire at length discussed this being a theme first means to the artist, by the author in Agua Viva of the the story on one level A Hora da EstreZa is, therefore, As with Machado de Assis' of a novel. the creation, writing, the Ramos' Sao Berardo or Graciliano Dom Casmurro (1900), (1934), what to a large extent, itself of the text becomes, development One is reits most compelling is about, the narrative aspect. and Paulo Honorio in readof both Bento Santiago in fact, minded, work the theme of in the latter although ing A Hora da Estrela, and national, of guilt, the expiation through the writing personal of so much as a discussion of a book is not the primary concern who exa character to create artist what it means for a literary and concerns, attitudes many of which may or particular presses author or the real with those of the implied may not coincide about the observations author. Keeping in mind Wayne Booth's we meet the person who tells nature of the unreliable narrator, is cenin the story a man whose presence in our novel, the story As he to its meaning. tral to its structuring and, consequently, us: tells himself embora a que nao seja complexo o que escreverei, Proponho-me A hist6riaa usar as palavras que vos sustentam. obrigado ter uns sete personagens arb'trio-vai livre com falso determino e claro. e eu sou um dos mais importantes Eu, Rodrigo deles, e S. M. Relato este, pois nao quero ser modernoso antigo, de originalidade.2 modismos a guisa inventar authorial but self-effacing This type of direct and its extensive of the novel, comes a leitmotif commentary beimplementation,

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within the context of the story function along with its ironic marks an interesting for Clarice stylistic itself, development for the first in any systematic Indeed, time, Lispector. fashion, has begun to deal with the delicate Clarice relathough critical and reader, between it tionship narrator, author, or, to express the implied between more precisely, the real author, the author, As the narrator, and the reader. other characters, addressing himself to this very issue, informs us, in fact: acontecer o que Ja (Se estou demorando um pouco em fazer e porque preciso dessa tirar vgrios retratos vagamente, prevejo E tambem porque se houver algum leitor alagoana. para esta hist6ria quero que ele se embeba da jovem assim como un pano de A moga e' uma verdade da qual eu nao chdo todo encharcado. Nao sei a quem acusar mas deve haver um reu.)3 quero saber. of the narrator's or unreliability So the question reliability is, the entire as we can readily one that is going to pervade see, affect the manner in which all the other elework, one that will fit For example, we also read: ments in the story together. este relato Sera que eu enriqueceria Mas af que esta: termos tecnicos? nem de estilo, ela nenhuma tecnica, tambem nao mancharia por nada deste e falsas uma vida parca como hantes But the narrator, distorting openly we discover, "the truth" se usasse diflceis alguns nao tem esta hist6ria Eu que e ao deus-dara. mundo com palavras brila da datil6grafa.4 of lying to us, of

is quite capable of his own story:

valvula de escape e da vida masFago aqui o papel de vossa Bem sei que e assustador da media burguesia. sacrante sair de si mesmo, mas tudo o que e novo assusta. Embora a moga an6nima blblica. da hist6ria seja tao antiga que podia ser uma figura Minto: e nunca tinha tido floragao. ela Ela era subterranea era capim.5 but And later, by undercutting declares: same mendacious in this vein, continuing in what he tells our confidence us, the and therenarrator

as Sei nao. E eu sei? Para que eu escrevo? Sim, e verdade, a uma vezes tambem penso que eu nao sou eu, parego pertencer Sou eu? de tao estranho que sou de mim. galaxia longlnqua corn o meu encontro.6 Espanto-me in" to "listen We are even permitted to the characters "what has happened" as the narrator mulls over he himself has created:

Ainda Casariam ou nao? sabiam disso. Mas eu nao sei se eles e pouca sombra s6 sei que eram de algum modo inocentes nao sei, faziam no chao.

EarZ E. Fitz Nao, menti, alguma, apesar ele nao era inocente agora vi tudo: de ser uma vltima geral do mundo.7 coisa

199

With the narrator's ruminations and interpolations omnipresent in the story, the point of view fluctuates between constantly either that of our struggling narrator or that of first-person, one of the characters most involved; which is second-person, reserved for the illuminating and often funny exchanges generally of dialogue between characters but which is also occasionally used by the narrator in direct discourse with the reader; and thirdtraditional mode of story-telling and one person, the omniscient, with which Clarice Lispector has been able to produce a very tellone reminiscent, in its own ing kind of psychological realism, inimitable We read, for way, of that of Machado de Assis. example: Tinha Macabea gostava de filme de terror ou de musicals. predilegco por mulher enforcada ou que levava um tiro no Nao sabia que ela pr6pria era uma suicida embora coragco. nunca lhe tivesse ocorrido se matar. E que a vida lhe era tao insossa que nem pao velho sem manteiga.8 The overall effect of this frequently fable-like tone, which is of Lispector's earlier strongly reminiscent work, is to draw the reader closer to the perspective of the narrator, a sensitive man was reared in the Northeast but who who, like Clarice herself, later on came to live in Rio de Janeiro. The narrator, as we have seen, seems to be talking with us directly as he ponders the how and why of fiction writing and, in a related issue, what it means to create something out of words: E eis que fiquei agora receoso quando pus palavras sobre a nordestina. E a pergunta e: como escrevo? Verifico que escrevo de ouvido assim como aprendi ingles e frances de ouvido. Antecedentes meus do escrever? sou um homem que tem mais dinheiro do que os que passam fome, o que faz de mim de E s6 minto na hora exata da mentira. algum modo um desonesto.
Mas quando voam falscas escrevo nao minto. . . .

Nao, nao e facil

y lascas

escrever.
como agos

E duro como quebrar rochas.

espelhados. . . .

Mas

De uma coisa tenho certeza: essa narrativa mexera com uma coisa delicada: a criacao de uma pessoa inteira que na certa esta tdo viva quanto eu.9 So as the reader becomes privy to these types of concerns, which are simultaneously in the story and to germane to the characters the formulation of the story itself, he becomes an active and process of willing accomplice in the organic, but also ironic, the narrative's artistic its structuring. Thus, we functioning, are not at all surprised when, late in the novel, the narrator conversation after a desultory suddenly bursts in and declares, the protagonist, involving Macabea, and a doctor:

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a minha querida Maca, Sim, estou apaixonado por Macabea, e anonimato total pois ela nao e apaixonado pela sua feiura a Apaixonado por seus pulm6es frageis, para ninguem. 10 magricela. deft handling of point of view has deeply Clarice's point, By this in Macabea's the reader as well as the narrator involved empty, in spinning a But the author has also succeeded wasted existence. all parties involved awareness between web of empathy and social S. M. Relato, in the story, Clarice herself, Lispector Rodrigues is The result of all this and the reader. the narrator, Macabea, that we plunge down into the mind of the main character, Macabea, at the same time that we are drawn out into the realm of social into an examination of a specific social commentary, problem. to this inventiveness are the three linked structural Closely the various with in A Hora da Estrela, ways we major themes dealt from Lispector's world to the realities of artificial extrapolate our own, the one inhabited by real men and women, the ones who and who give it a significance to books like this that give rise This is really the area in which goes beyond its value as art. of the novel lies and the one which psychological the "newness" and relates most closely to a concern over social types analysis to note that in It is intriguing issues. pertinent sociologically from Alagoas of Macabea, the nineteen her portrayal year old girl a job in hopes of finding to Rio de Janeiro who makes a pilgrimage A Hora da has placed Clarice a new life, and beginning Lispector the tradition of regionalisticalwell within Estrela thematically and cultural literature conflict so brilliantly dely oriented da Cunha in Os Sertees a classic and (1902), by Euclides picted other stories, work that has influenced countless seminal novels, of course, in Brazil.11 And although, and poems written plays, is by no means the only Brazilian author to deal with Lispector endemic to the northeasterner's the socio-economic cyclic problems it is her from his drought and poverty homeland, plagued hegira to have added to the external the one that story, genius special and unwanted northeastern what happens to an unskilled recounts of a an inner drama, the disintegration waif in the big city, of any kind of one pathetically incapable personality, crippled informs The narrator or fulfillment. self-realization meaningful in this regard: terms of his intentions us in no uncertain a contar as fracas de uma moga numa . . . limito-me aventuras Ela que deveria contra ela. ter ficado no cidade toda feita sertao de Alagoas . . . Quero antes afiangar que essa moga nao a toa. Se tivesse a de ir vivendo se conhece senao atraves e em estatelada de se perguntar tolice "que sou eu?" cairia e tao tola de quem vou falar cheio no chao . . . A pessoa que na rua.12 sorri as vezes para os outros he says to us, "Ha milhares And, at a later point, that We see, e que sao apenas um acaso."13 then, one whose psychological individualized character, como ela? Macabea is portraiture, Sim, an

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like that of Clarice's other protagonists, becomes the via quickly crucis of the entire work. Macabea is porBut, at the same time, as a distinct social as a symbol of sorts, a painful trayed type, of how the poverty of life reminder in the Northeast stunts one's and intellectual and how it effectively physical development a person, blunts him useless as a contributing member of rendering and hollow as an individual. Macabea's as society story, then, in this novel, is a kind of updated and urbanized verpresented sion of what might have been Vit6ria's in Graciliano Ramos' story, or what actually Vidas Socas (1938), was Guta's in Rachel story, As Trgs Marias (1943). de Queiroz's But operating in close consort with the two more obvious themes in this the ruinous novel, human tragedy of Brazil's northeastern reand as yet unresolved of an essentially and lyrical and the attempt philosophical gion, to show a barren, writer blighted struggling, blindly personality to develop into something more satisfying, there and futilely, a subtle third This tertiary theme. exists yet powerful though no vital comes to grips with the less of A Hora da Estrela impulse in being an artist, inherent the ethical, implications humanistic, and philosophic what it really means to conmeaning of creativity, nect words with reality and then to give them form, to turn them At the conclusion into art, into literature. of the novel, just after Macabea's the rather thoroughly stupid death, mysteriously motivated in an ironic and somewhat contrary narrator, way that illustrates the extent to which his own creative have energies in his formation of Macabea, declares: gotten wrapped-up Mas ndo sei por que nao rio. A morte e um encontro consigo. . Macabea me matou. Ela estava enfim livre de si e de n6s. Nao vos assusteis, morrer e um instante, eu sei porque acabo de morrer passa logo, com a moga.1 The "death" of the narrator, the imaginative force supposedly an aspect also highlights of the novel, of behind the writing in her work, though fiction that has been a constant Clarice's fashion. It is one, moreover, often in an elusive, suggestive which places it would seem, in the mainher, autogenerically, stream of one of Western literature's most dominant themes-the of the artist. In all of Clarice's but isolation fiction, in her novels, or artistic has been art, sensibility, especially often as the only possible antidote to the advanced, symbolically, and flux of existence. In Lispector's the arrandomness world, as seen in Agua Viva, or an artistically "common receptive tist, like of Perto do CoraEqo Selvagem reacts (1944), Joana, person," of quotidian often unconsciousto the baseness reality by turning, and sense of worth found in the process of ly, to the salvation and authentic this Typically, self-discovery self-expression. results in the attempted of a person's process private, linkage sense of being and identity to what Clarice are personal suggests the eternal and timeless life forces at work in the universe, this that is especially in A Paixdo Segundo being an impulse apparent

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Clarice's tend to rely on actual artistic G. H. (1964). characters as in Agua Viva, the urge to create, as in A Maqa no creativity, power of un-premeditated Escuro, or on the liberating action, as in A Paixlo Segundo G. H., in an attempt to impose form, and conseIn A Hora da quently meaning, on their fragmented existences. to life and death is own relation EstreZa, however, the narrator's bound up on the creation of his protagonist, Macabea, inextricably It is through art, Clarice is telland of "life" in literature. that the and ordering, selection, ing us, through imagination, the person who appreciates the formart-overcomes artist-and and chaos of existence, relessness succeeds in being constantly The cyclical, archetypal movement born, and achieves immortality. of birth, death, and rebirth has become the means by which Lispecfrom Joana to Rodrigo S. M. Relato, gain in selftor's characters, of where they fit into the general awareness and in a consciousness scheme of things. So, in A Hora da EstreZa, the death of Macabea, an event statement that he, the protagonist's by the narrator's paralleled "has just died with the girl," underscores the extent to creator, which Clarice has, in the course of this book, artfully manipubewteen reader, character, the relationship lated the view-point, But in so doing, it also hearkens up important quesand author. eletions about the degree to which there are autobiographical ments in this story, about the degree to which Clarice chose to into the action. There are numerous references project herself life, which, given what we already know about Clarice's open the on this point. For example, Clarice, door to more speculation like Macabea, knew what it meant to be a young girl obliged to move from her home in a small northeastern city and go to a huge She knew, too, what it meant to be immesouthern metropolis. new sights, sounds, diately bombarded with a plethora of utterly and ideas. She knew what it meant to find herself suddenly among But strangers and to have to make up her life as she went along. of Clarice's even more suggestive personal involvement in the lines within the course of the story are some of the narrator's text itself: Escrevo por nao ter nada a fazer no mundo: sobrei e nao ha lugar para mim na terra dos homens. Escrevo porque sou um desesperado e estou cansado, nao suporto mais a rotina de me eu me ser e se nao fosse a sempre novidade que e escrever, Mas preparado estou todos os dias. morreria simbolicamente pela salda da porta dos fundos. para sair discretamente a paixao e o seu desespero. Experimentei quase tudo, inclusive sido e nao fui.15 E agora s6 quereria ter o que eu tivesse And, continuing along this same line, he adds:

so a mudez me faz cansado de literatura; Estou absolutamente Se ainda escrevo e porque nada mais tenho a fazer companhia.
no mundo enquanto espero a morte. . . . Quanto a mim, estou

cansado.

Talvez da companhia de Macabea, Gl6ria,

Olfmpico.

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E. Fitz

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Tenho que interromper esta medico me enjoou com sua cerveja. dias. historia por uns tres tres Nestes ultimos sem personagens, dias, sozinho, de mim como quem tira uma roupa. e tiro-me despersonalizo-me a ponto de adormecer.16 Despersonalizo-me would have us bethe narrator In "depersonalizing" himself, himself from the story he has been lieve that he has disassociated will come to an the narrative us, that with his departure telling in doing this, as of course, The narrator self-conscious end. is, inbut in this of the novel, he has been from the very beginning His interpretation or fallible. stance he is not being unreliable his own he describes to us, including of the events and evaluation and attitudes coincide with the beliefs part in them, do, in fact, sense that there is a strong held by Clarice indeed, Lispector; But these are the very ones she wants to impress upon us most. as we can now see, our narrator, quite is, Rodrigo S. M. Relato, aware of who he is and why he says what he does. He is fully aware of creating a work of art that, to borrow Booth's terminolhim as a partially dramatized narrator and allows ogy, includes him the freedom to discuss with the reader the various problems he has encountered in its writing. The book's creator, Relato, a character becomes a kind of "intrusive therefore narrator," who, assumes complete in the action, not a central participant although thus giving himhe describes, over the events control authorial in both about the characters self free rein to comment at will, writand about the nature of fiction his story, including himself, ing in general. is of conand function of the narrator the nature But although is another there issue in A Hora da Estrela, interest siderable that speaks an issue in relation to it, that needs to be studied of the alluded to autobiographical to the already aspects directly sections of the work in which the narI refer to those novel. and its relation his private about life rator discusses feelings in some highly in which he indulges to literature, personalized and the various existence about his own troubled ways digressions be transformed into literature. it can, or cannot, Apropos of makes a comment late in the novel, the narrative voice, this, is of in context, to Macabea's story, that, though applicable, to those of us who have watched interest sharpen, Lispector special so many novels, her unmistakable and refine style through focus, and stories: "cronicas," me aniquila, estou com fatos, o cotidiano (Como e chato lidar esta hist6ria de escrever com preguiga que e um desabafo N3o me aquem e alem de mim. Vejo que escrevo apenas. . . . (Vejo que nao responsabilizo pelo que agora escrevo.) me cansa.)17 esta hist6ria. Descrever da para aprofundar in a scene which seems And later, Clarice Clarice visualize herself, ing, at the very end of her life, to lead us to ineluctably confrontthe isolated artist, the meaning of her own existence,

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e s6 agora brotou-se-me o sentido o secreto: S6 agora entendo violino e um aviso. Sei que quando eu morrer vou ouvir o violino do homem e pedirei musica. musica, musica, serena da terra Macabea, Ave Maria, cheia de graca, do perdao, ter que chegar o tempo, ora pro terra promissao, Eu te conheco e eu me uso como forma de conhecimento. n6bis, de uma encantacao ate o osso por intermedio que vem de mim para . . . Mas quem sabe se ela nao estaria ti. de precisando morrer? Pois ha momentos em que a pessoa de esta precisando uma pequena mortezinha e sem nem ao menos saber. Quanto a mim, substituo o ato da morte por um seu s?mbolo. S?mbolo este que num profundo mas nao na parede aspera e pode se resumir beijo na agonia do prazer sim boca-a-boca Eu, que que e morte. a simbolicamente morro varias vezes so para experimentar . . . Eu poderia resolver ressurreicao. pelo caminho mais mas quero o pior: a vida. matar a menina-infante, Os facil, levem um soco no estomago para ver se e que me lerem, assim, A vida e um soco no estomago.18 bom. The attitudes and themes touched alto here, upon and alluded most as if in a literary do not summing up and farewell address, seem appropriate for Rodrigo S. M. Relato; seem they do, however, for Clarice the artist who knew perfectly appropriate Lispector, It is as if Clarice inshe was dying. slips, very unobtrusively, shift character discernible to Rodrigo's and, with only a faintly to then proceeds to make her final in tone to mark it, accounting and as a human being. The poignancy of this final us, as a writer of self, realization and declaration plus the concomitant explanacannot be missed. "is about," Transmitted tion of what this story sound, a sense sight, Lispectorian image involving by a typically instant of cognition, the and the epiphany-like of anticipation, us into the mind of the story's carries text, ambiguous, hauntingly creator: do terror tao negro dos mortos e depois Eu estive na terra Nao me consumam! Nao sou em perdao. Sou inocente! ressurgi . . . Estou agora me esforcando vendavel! para rir em grande A morte e um encontro Mas nao sei por que nao rio. gargalhada. sinto o meu ultimo . . . Mas eis que de repente esgar consigo Viver e luxo. dos pombos'!! de revolta e uivo: o morticlnio Pronto, passou. lhes dessem Morta, os sinos badalavam mas sem seus bronzes Ela e a iminencia som. esta historia. que ha Agora entendo nos sinos badalam. que quase-quase A grandeza de cada um. Silencio. Se um dia 0 silencio

havera silencio Deus vier a terra grande. e tal que nem o pensamento pensa.19

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of what could easily be construed either as But, in an expression bitter to those who have refused to accept irony or as a reproach what Lispector has always done with her fiction, we read: 0 final foi bastante grandiloqiiente para a vossa necessidade? Morrendo ela virou ar. Ar energetico? Nao sei. Morreu em um instante. 0 instante e aquele atimo de tempo em em alta velocidade toca no chao e que o pneu do carro correndo nao toca mais e depois toca de novo. etc. depois Etc., etc., No fundo ela nao passara de uma caixinha de musica meio desafinada. E vos pergunto: e o peso da luz?20 -Qual Because in them the real narrative voice can be interpreted as beRelato or Lispector the final lines of ing that of either herself, this novel establish the famous sense of ambiguity and suggestiveness that has made Clarice famous. we still Although strongly feel in the concluding her presence there is simulpassage, reintroduced into the text the distinct that taneously possibility the narrative voice is-and has been all along-that of Rodrigo We read: S. M. Relato. acender um cigarro e ir para E agora-agora so me resta Mas-mas Meu Deus, s6 agora me lembrei que a gente morre. tambem?! Nao esquecer e tempo de morangos. que por enquanto Sim.21 casa. eu

The studied of this last scene illustrates well rather ambiguity the control Clarice is exerting over the structuring of her narIt is, moreover, an ambiguity rative. that admits of more than one logical that it must do if it is to interpretation, something be done well and avoid simply being vague and imprecise. But, in it is the author's the final deft management of point of analysis, as this relates to the relationship bekey issue view, especially tween the real author and the implied that allows her to author, textual utilize this as effectively as she does. ambiguity we can say that, In conclusion, in A Hora da EstreZa, Clarice continues to work with certain of the major themes that Lispector had held her interest, and ours, ever since her first published novel in 1944. But it also seems abundantly clear that there are in this work several final, present partially autobiographical if not wholly elements that, new, were certainly undeveloped prewe should take special note of the author's viously. Among these, use of verbal and dramatic controlled her development of irony, even absurdist with an humor, her extended sardonic, experiment intrusive of all, the attention and narrator, and, most notable stress she gives to the novel's related sociologically questions. and this does not surprise us since Stylistically, however, Clarice has always been a consummate stylist, in she succeeds all of these disparate the old and the new, by blending elements,

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one that allows her controlled means of a skillfully perspective, and art with a to merge her own comments about life, literature, of a fully selfweb that is based on the machinations narrative hera man who, in many ways, is like conscious Lispector narrator, to In addressing self. herself, then, through the text itself, and reading of a novel, the unique experience that is the writing human at the same time, the depths of an isolated while, plumbing has taken another Clarice important step consciousness, Lispector in the of Brazilian literature the place toward legitimizing Western literature. Without being of contemporary context larger is a worthy addition to A Hora da EstreZa artistically perfect, of literato the creation devoted of labor lifetime its author's sucClarice as a novelist, effort In her penult ture. Lispector all of the themes that had preoccupied ceeded in drawing together career and in introducing some new her throughout her illustrious nature of her fiction The organic, interconnected ones as well. have and technique and her concern over questions style involving than they are here. never been more evident Clarice's conof her earlier True to the poetic style, aspect to her special mode linked cept of point of view here is closely the narrator Her characters, of of characterization. including have tended to turn their A Hora da Estrela, eyes inward in order of and highly to give us an emotional, charged account subjective and with their world. with themselves their But, in relationship inshows how Lispector this novel had, with this short, addition, aware of what she could do with point tense work, become acutely between the total of how she could have it vacillate of view, delineated of a first-person poem and the sharply subjectivity the various For Lispector, of view of a drama. points objectivity her in this book, those established utilized by the real author, all coalesce in and the reader, the other characters, narrator, for psychological the work to supply material the act of reading of understanda disparity of humor and irony, elements analysis, At times, Clarice, and social commentary. ing or interpretation, on paradoxical the poet, relies like ambiguous phraslanguage, of the the diversity to amplify and ironic symbolism ings, As we in perspective shifts that her radical engender. knowledge even varies his own narrator have seen, first-person Lispector's to some he participates, to the narrative: in relation position comments upon it, ponders his own dein the action, extent, with all these functions and yet combines as an artist, velopment about who they are, how concern over the other characters, voiced in His success they came to be, and what they should mean to us. the implicaon two things: this however, depends chiefly novel, and the or unreliability, in his reliability, tions inherent life between and of his own sense of the connection validity to an when Clarice shifts This is more evident literature. of view and, in so doing, omniscient opens up point third-person is thinking. minds so that we know what everyone the characters' of all Lispector has done before, These thoughts, in a way typical or internalized to us as unspoken are revealed speech patterns, role in A Hora da Estreta because, dialogues. They play a crucial

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in this struck more than any of the other perspectives story, and musings provide the inner and the link between these thoughts of human consciousbetween that telling dissection outer worlds, has become so well known and the depiction ness for which Clarice intense human enworld full of tangible of a physical objects, strife. and, now, sociological tanglements, does contain So while it can be said that A Hora da Estrela Clarice we should not let this much that is vintage Lispector, that the author works with in this blind us to the new material criticism with her attempt to merge social novel, particularly matter. stream-of-consciousness what remains basically subject it is Lispector's careful and coordinated But in all of this, as the most outof perspective that establishes itself shifting aware of what she of the entire work. feature Clearly standing Clarice controls our wanted to say, and of how she wanted it said, in point of her variations to A Hora da EstreZa through response of what we see here, one and innovativeness Given the vigor view. stories we could have expected must wonder about the wonderful With her had she not died so prematurely. from Clarice Lispector and powerone of Latin America's most original untimely passing, is already ful voices has been stilled. Though her presence being her inspiration and example remain very much alive missed, sorely best for us. While A Hora da Estrela may not be Lispector's tantalizes us with visions of its daring experimentalism novel, if she had been able to develop further. what might have followed

NOTES A Hora da Estrela, 1Clarice 3* edigao (Rio de Lispector, Janeiro: pp. 9-12. Livraria Jose' Olympio Editora, 1977), 2Ibid., p. 17. p. 48. 3Ibid., p. 45. 4Ibid., p. 38. 5Ibid., p. 45. 6Ibid., p. 58. 7Ibid., p. 71. 8Ibid., p. 24. 9Ibid., 10Ibid., p. 82. in of course, that A Hora da EstreZa 11This is not to suggest, novel can be Os Serties; only that Lispector's any way resembles of Brazilian or sub-category, into a special said to fit category, to its faithful at the same time that it remains literature concerns. more traditional author's pp. 19-20. 12Lispector, 13Ibid., p. 45. p. 103. 14Ibid., p. 27. 15Ibid., 16Ibid., pp. 84-85. p. 87. 17Ibid., 18Ibid., pp. 99-100.

208 19Ibid , 20Ibid., 21 Ibid. pp. 102-103. p. 104.

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