Clarice Lispector

Claire Williams (University of Oxford)
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Clarice Lispector was born in a tiny Ukrainian village, while her parents were fleeing Stalin’s troops on the way to a new life across the Atlantic, to settle among the Jewish refugee communities of Northeastern Brazil. Although she was only two months old when her family (her parents Pinkus and Marieta and her sisters Elisa and Tania) arrived in Brazil, and was naturalised by the government of Getúlio Vargas in 1943, her ‘foreign’ name and appearance did contribute to perceptions of her as being unconventional when she began publishing fiction.

When she was older, Lispector wrote stories and newspaper chronicles about her childhood in Recife with nostalgia and fondness rather than bitterness about her family’s meagre means and her mother’s painful illness and paralysis. After

1571 words

Citation: Williams, Claire. "Clarice Lispector". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 December 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2755, accessed 19 March 2024.]

2755 Clarice Lispector 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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