Clarice Lispector

Benjamin Moser

Stefan Tobler

Lispector at her most philosophically radical.

Água Viva

smile??

Everything comes to an end but what I'm writing to you goes on. Which is good, very good. The best is not yet written. The best is between the lines.

I am being joyful in this very instant because I refuse to be defeated: so I love.

I want to have the freedom to say unconnected things as a deep way of touching you. [...]

But what can I do if you are not touched by my defects, whereas I loved yours. My candour was crushed underfoot by you. You didn't love me, only I know that. I was alone. Yours alone. I write to no one and a riff is being made that doesn't exist. I unglued myself from me.

We will meet this afternoon. And I won't even talk to you about this that I'm writing and which contains what I am and which I give to you as a present though you won't read it. You will never read what I'm writing. And when I've noted down my secret of being—I shall throw it away as if into the sea. I'm writing you because you can't accept what I am. When I destroy my notes on the instants, will I return to my nothing from which I extracted an everything? I must pay the price. The price of someone who has a past that is only renewed with passion in the strange present. When I think of what I already lived through it seems to me I was shedding my bodies along the paths.

My frightened truth is that I was always yours alone and didn't know it. Now I know: I'm alone. I an my freedom that I didn't know how to use. Great responsibility of solitude. Whoever isn't lost doesn't know freedom and love it. as for me, I own up to my solitude that sometimes falls into ecstasy as before fireworks. I am alone and must live a certain intimate glory that in solitude can become pain.

[...] each thing that happens to me I live it here by noting it down. Because I want to feel in my probing hands the living and quivering nerve of the today.

To live this life is more an indirect remembering than a direct living.

One day you said you loved me. I pretend to believe it and live, from day to day, in joyful love. But remembering with longing is like saying farewell once again.

My voice falls into the abyss of your silence. You read me in silence. But in this unlimited silent field I unfurl my wings, free to live. So I accept the worst and enter the core of death and that is why I'm alive.

Perhaps I'll go back to the typewriter or perhaps I'll stop right here forever. I, who am never good enough.

I'm writing you this facsimile of a book, the book of someone who doesn't know how to write; but that's because in the lightest realm of speaking I almost don't know how to speak. Particularly speaking to you in writing, I who got used to your being the audience, however distracted, of my voice. When I paint I respect the material I use, I respect its primordial fate. So when I write you I respect the syllables.

What am I doing in writing to you? trying to photograph perfume.

I know you all over because I have lived you all over.

What beautiful music I can hear in the depths of me.

I want to die with life. I swear that I shall only die profiting from the last instant. There is a profound prayer within me that will be born I don't know when. I would so like to die of health. Like someone exploding. Éclater is better: jéclate. For now there's dialogue with you. Then it will be monologue. Then the silence. I know that there will be an order.

I want to be buried with the watch on my wrist so that in the earth something can pulse time.

[...] why do I love you if you don't return my love? I send messages in vain; when I greet you you hide your face from me; why do I love you if you don't even notice me?

I am making myself. I make myself until I reach the pit.

What is there between never and ever that links them so indirectly and intimately?

And I am haunted by my ghosts, by all that is mythic, fantastic and gigantic: life is supernatural. I walk holding an open umbrella upon a tightrope. I walk to the limit of my great dream. I see the fury of the visceral impulses: tortured viscera guide me. I don't like what I just wrote—but I'm duty-bound to accept the whole section because it happened to me. And I have much respect for what I happen to myself. My essence is unconscious of itself and that's why I obey myself blindly.

I write to you because I don't understand myself.

I am rudely alive. I am leaving—says death without adding that he's taking me along. And I shiver in panting breath because I must go with him. I am death. Death takes place in my very being—how can I explain it to you? It's a sensual death.

I plunge into the almost pain of an intense happiness—and to adorn me leaves and branches spring up in my hair.

all of lispector's works can be considered avant-garde by modern and contemporary standards: with água viva and the passions according to gh especially so. lispector challenges readers with her unmakeout-able, trance-like, stream of conscious on paper. though, for more coherency, see the apprenticeship or the book of pleasures. 

i especially appreciate her prose as dictation of what my heart desires to share yet cannot find my own words to do so.

soochie

all of lispector's works can be considered avant-garde by modern and contemporary standards: with água viva and the passions according to gh especially so. lispector challenges readers with her unmakeout-able, trance-like, stream of conscious on paper. though, for more coherency, see the apprenticeship or the book of pleasures. 

i especially appreciate her prose as dictation of what my heart desires to share yet cannot find my own words to do so.

 is a short collection of "fragments" or "instants", as Clarice Lispector and her editor describe them. The narrator, an unnamed painter / writer, discusses a WIDE variety of topics regarding time, nature, being alive, being in love, and being a writer. That's... pretty much everything you need to know about the book. While the premise is self explanatory, Lispector packs a LOT in these 88 pages.

This peek into Lispector's brain was astounding to read, especially since this served as my introduction to Lispector as a writer. There's so much to unpack in terms of what Lispector actually talks about, but before I unpack that, I first want to talk about the structure of this book and why it works so well. These fragments / instants are essentially 1-2 sentence paragraphs that capture the narrator's immediate thoughts in their present. The idea of living in the present, "capturing the instant", is a worry for the narrator throughout the whole book, which (without spoiling the structure) makes this story have such an impact by the end.

How to summarize all that the narrator talks about in the book? It's the definition of genius scatterbrain: Lispector goes ALL over the place with all that's involved in being a creative person. She talks about writing, and the uniqueness of these fragments and where it leads her, and she talks about time and the ephemerality of existence, and she talks about who she's writing to and how it's affecting her. These are just a couple examples, and it's also quite difficult to pick out a single line from the collection. 

 is meant to be taken as the total sum of the fragments, forming one constructed 

At the moment, I have little else to say. This was incredible, and boy am I excited to read 

Água Viva is a short collection of "fragments" or "instants", as Clarice Lispector and her editor describe them. The narrator, an unnamed painter / writer, discusses a WIDE variety of topics regarding time, nature, being alive, being in love, and being a writer. That's... pretty much everything you need to know about the book. While the premise is self explanatory, Lispector packs a LOT in these 88 pages.

This peek into Lispector's brain was astounding to read, especially since this served as my introduction to Lispector as a writer. There's so much to unpack in terms of what Lispector actually talks about, but before I unpack that, I first want to talk about the structure of this book and why it works so well. These fragments / instants are essentially 1-2 sentence paragraphs that capture the narrator's immediate thoughts in their present. The idea of living in the present, "capturing the instant", is a worry for the narrator throughout the whole book, which (without spoiling the structure) makes this story have such an impact by the end.

How to summarize all that the narrator talks about in the book? It's the definition of genius scatterbrain: Lispector goes ALL over the place with all that's involved in being a creative person. She talks about writing, and the uniqueness of these fragments and where it leads her, and she talks about time and the ephemerality of existence, and she talks about who she's writing to and how it's affecting her. These are just a couple examples, and it's also quite difficult to pick out a single line from the collection. Água Viva is meant to be taken as the total sum of the fragments, forming one constructed instant for us.

At the moment, I have little else to say. This was incredible, and boy am I excited to read The Passion According to G.H..

9.5/10

Is it because this book feels like someone is archiving their brainstorming process or something but the way this book talks about the struggle of writing (or painting?) makes me feel validated? Like, it's just comforting to know that sometimes your mind will just wander around everywhere when you try to find the right words to write. The way someone also went through this branching out of one topic to another, the struggle to express things in words, the questions Clarice 'asked' in this book, it was strangely comforting.

Paradoxalmente, me encontro sem palavras, para descrever um livro que sinto que me deu minhas palavras de volta. Finalizei esse livro sabendo nunca mais serei a mesma. 

Larissa Campos

Paradoxalmente, me encontro sem palavras, para descrever um livro que sinto que me deu minhas palavras de volta. Finalizei esse livro sabendo nunca mais serei a mesma. 



didn’t like it as much as i thought…i think because her work is so internal it may come off as cringe sometimes. i guess im in that stage of life where i dont respond to her work that well. let me read this again when i have a crush on someone lol

Patricia K

didn’t like it as much as i thought…i think because her work is so internal it may come off as cringe sometimes. i guess im in that stage of life where i dont respond to her work that well. let me read this again when i have a crush on someone lol

personal copy

Clarice lê-se para se sentir. A sinceridade da sua prosa e a liberdade com que usa e abusa das palavras para explicar sentimentos, pensamentos, gestos, ..., são o que tornam este livro tão especial. Se há alguém no mundo que me compreende, que descreve, palavra por palavra, o que sinto, é ela. 

Cada livro dela é único, diferente, uma experiência por si só. Água Viva é dolorosamente curto, mas reconforto-me em saber que ele existe para lá do tempo; que, apesar de já estar escrito e terminado com ponto final, a fluidez do pensamento e do que ele transmite transcende o passado, presente e futuro juntos. Belíssimo.  

Um adendo: Durante todo o livro, Clarice fala do “instante-já”, do “momento único”,… Enfim, algo que seja permanente no presente, nem antes, nem depois. E todo o livro possui essa mesma sensação de permanência, eu diria; ele existe por si só no tempo em que criou, num universo onde não existe nem passado, nem presente, nem futuro; afinal se o tempo foi construído pelo Homem também por ele pode ser desconstruído. Já no final do livro Clarice refere este mesmo desejo de querer que o livro continue, para lá do ponto final. E ele continua, pelo menos, eu imagino-o assim; é um livro que existe, que respira, que é tão fluído quanto o pensamento: é Água Viva.

dyonisos.

Clarice lê-se para se sentir. A sinceridade da sua prosa e a liberdade com que usa e abusa das palavras para explicar sentimentos, pensamentos, gestos, ..., são o que tornam este livro tão especial. Se há alguém no mundo que me compreende, que descreve, palavra por palavra, o que sinto, é ela. 

Cada livro dela é único, diferente, uma experiência por si só. Água Viva é dolorosamente curto, mas reconforto-me em saber que ele existe para lá do tempo; que, apesar de já estar escrito e terminado com ponto final, a fluidez do pensamento e do que ele transmite transcende o passado, presente e futuro juntos. Belíssimo.  

Um adendo: Durante todo o livro, Clarice fala do “instante-já”, do “momento único”,… Enfim, algo que seja permanente no presente, nem antes, nem depois. E todo o livro possui essa mesma sensação de permanência, eu diria; ele existe por si só no tempo em que criou, num universo onde não existe nem passado, nem presente, nem futuro; afinal se o tempo foi construído pelo Homem também por ele pode ser desconstruído. Já no final do livro Clarice refere este mesmo desejo de querer que o livro continue, para lá do ponto final. E ele continua, pelo menos, eu imagino-o assim; é um livro que existe, que respira, que é tão fluído quanto o pensamento: é Água Viva.

thoughts and feelings written down are incredibly vulnerable yet so beautiful

ryan

“Only the act of love—the limpid star-like abstraction of feeling—captures the unknown moment, the instant hard as crystal and vibrating in the air and life is this untellable instant, larger than the event itself: during love the impersonal jewel of the moment shines in the air, the strange glory of the body, matter made feeling in the trembling of the instants—and the feeling is both immaterial and so objective that it seems to happen outside your body, sparkling on high, joy, joy is time’s material and the essence of the instant.”

In Água Viva, there is no order—only the transcendental nakedness of thought. A meditation without anchor, a narrative that dares to name the unnameable. This is a dialogue with the self, unfolding in fragments, pauses, and sudden illuminations, as if consciousness itself were speaking aloud with no need to justify its leaps. Every line feels on the edge of revelation, trembling with an intensity that refuses closure.

Reading this feels like slipping underneath language into the silence it tries to hold. This book is definitely a hallmark of Lispector's fearless dismantling of form. Água Viva is a living text that is not meant to be understood in the traditional sense.

Rien

“Only the act of love—the limpid star-like abstraction of feeling—captures the unknown moment, the instant hard as crystal and vibrating in the air and life is this untellable instant, larger than the event itself: during love the impersonal jewel of the moment shines in the air, the strange glory of the body, matter made feeling in the trembling of the instants—and the feeling is both immaterial and so objective that it seems to happen outside your body, sparkling on high, joy, joy is time’s material and the essence of the instant.”

In Água Viva, there is no order—only the transcendental nakedness of thought. A meditation without anchor, a narrative that dares to name the unnameable. This is a dialogue with the self, unfolding in fragments, pauses, and sudden illuminations, as if consciousness itself were speaking aloud with no need to justify its leaps. Every line feels on the edge of revelation, trembling with an intensity that refuses closure.

Reading this feels like slipping underneath language into the silence it tries to hold. This book is definitely a hallmark of Lispector's fearless dismantling of form. Água Viva is a living text that is not meant to be understood in the traditional sense.

“feeling”— that’s the closest i can get to describing this book. reading it felt like being inside someone’s raw, unfiltered thoughts. there’s no clear plot, no characters in the traditional sense, but somehow it speaks so deeply. i didn’t always understand it, but i 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 it.

lispector’s words flow like music and art: abstract, poetic, and yet strangely comforting. she captures emotion and consciousness in such an intimate way that it feels like she’s talking directly to you, or even to a part of yourself you didn’t know was listening.

i loved the way she writes. it’s experimental but never cold; her language has warmth. it’s beautiful and alive. even in the confusion, there’s clarity. even in the fragments, there's connection.

agua viva isn’t a book i’ll ever fully explain. but i know it touched me. it’s the kind of book you feel more than understand, and that’s exactly why it stayed with me.

“feeling”— that’s the closest i can get to describing this book. reading it felt like being inside someone’s raw, unfiltered thoughts. there’s no clear plot, no characters in the traditional sense, but somehow it speaks so deeply. i didn’t always understand it, but i 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 it.

lispector’s words flow like music and art: abstract, poetic, and yet strangely comforting. she captures emotion and consciousness in such an intimate way that it feels like she’s talking directly to you, or even to a part of yourself you didn’t know was listening.

i loved the way she writes. it’s experimental but never cold; her language has warmth. it’s beautiful and alive. even in the confusion, there’s clarity. even in the fragments, there's connection.

agua viva isn’t a book i’ll ever fully explain. but i know it touched me. it’s the kind of book you feel more than understand, and that’s exactly why it stayed with me.

the immediacy of the prose is disconcerting to me. im as latin for "not" and media as latin for "middle". i wanted to like this a lot as a whole but i found it grating to read, despite how earnestly it is written. there are some great lines in there and honestly this is a great exercise in style, but this just isnt for me. i do have to say that it is excellently written. not verbose and despite its stream-of-consciousness style, lispector takes great care to pause and breathe and ramble and pause and do it over and over again

i do appreciate the central message of the book: NEVER KILL YOURSELF! lispector's treatise is a deeply buddhist text, without the asceticism. take a sip from the water of life (agua viva) go for a stroll. experience life as it is. 

where i went wrong is probably in my strategy to read the book. i had wanted to use this as a breather almost, a companion to the dry and academic deluge by tooze that i tried to read concurrently. i suspect that if the reader commits 1-2 hours to this and really sit down with it, the experience will be far more positive. instead, i was pulled in and out of this work abruptly as i read this on my commutes

also this is ~80 pages too, so not a large commitment

Ghee

the immediacy of the prose is disconcerting to me. im as latin for "not" and media as latin for "middle". i wanted to like this a lot as a whole but i found it grating to read, despite how earnestly it is written. there are some great lines in there and honestly this is a great exercise in style, but this just isnt for me. i do have to say that it is excellently written. not verbose and despite its stream-of-consciousness style, lispector takes great care to pause and breathe and ramble and pause and do it over and over again

i do appreciate the central message of the book: NEVER KILL YOURSELF! lispector's treatise is a deeply buddhist text, without the asceticism. take a sip from the water of life (agua viva) go for a stroll. experience life as it is. 

where i went wrong is probably in my strategy to read the book. i had wanted to use this as a breather almost, a companion to the dry and academic deluge by tooze that i tried to read concurrently. i suspect that if the reader commits 1-2 hours to this and really sit down with it, the experience will be far more positive. instead, i was pulled in and out of this work abruptly as i read this on my commutes

also this is ~80 pages too, so not a large commitment

caótico, simplemente bello. nueva autora favorita.

ivanna

🪢

Saffy

Rocío de la Hera

Es una novela acuática, que fluye, calma como un río, pero potente como un mar bravo. Breve, juega con los límites de las palabras y las emociones.

"My candour was crushed underfoot by you. You didn’t love me, only I know that. I was alone. Yours alone. I write to no one and a riff is being made that doesn’t exist. I unglued myself from me." 

mari

“my essence is unconscious of itself and that’s why i obey myself blindly”

akelo 

i ❤️ vulnerable female writers (they just like me fr) 

unserious review cuz i need to go to sleep byeeeeee

Alma

i ❤️ vulnerable female writers (they just like me fr) 

unserious review cuz i need to go to sleep byeeeeee

(if you know you know) i'm convinced lispector wrote this book for us 12th house placements girlies. unbelievable, impeccable book. extremely goated writer...5 stars is not enough. this has become my favorite book of all time.  what can't she do man!!!!! i love you ma'am clarice lispector. 

nandi

"La creación se me escapa. Y no quiero saber tanto. Me basta con que el corazón me lata en el pecho."

donna 

azliana aziz

for two third of the book i was immensely enthralled by everything then couple of pages nearing the coda it sort of fizzled. perplexing thought-feeling :)

jess

Lispector at her most philosophically radical, her attempt to capture her thoughts about intense, philosophical topics such as time, life and death. The prose gushes with unfiltered emotion so that you don’t know where to look. And yet, there is a thrill in reading these breathless, fitfully coherent fragments, each deployed in a vain quest to capture the living moment of naked existence, the “now-instant”. Love the duality of her thoughts when facing deeply conceptual topics and how she goes back to intertwining it with self, and how seemingly vivid her conveyance, her conceptualization of her "beyond thoughts".

"My only salvation is joy. An atonal joy inside the essential it. Because it's too cruel to know that life is just one time and that we have no guarantee outside our faiths in shadows - because it's too cruel, so I respond with the purity of an untamable happiness. I refuse to be sad. Let us be joyful. Whoever isn't afraid to be joyful and to and to experience even a single time the mad and profound joy will have the best part of our truth. I am - despite everything - am being joyful in this instant-now that passes if I don't capture it in words. I am being joyful in this very instant because I refuse to be defeated : so I love. As an answer."

isa/bella

difficult to pick a rating out of 5 stars for a book that evokes the exact feeling of waking up in the morning and reading for the first time with lucid eyes the ALMOST incomprehensible thoughts and 'prose' that u dumped in ur notes app while u were between dreams & wakefulness the previous night. everything about this was, while it lasted, very surreal, very fleeting, very magical and transcendent, somehow very true 

"What I’m saying is that the thought of the man and the way this thinking-feeling can reach an extreme degree of incommunicability— that, without sophism or paradox, is at the same time, for that man, the point of greatest communication. He communicates with himself."

Água Viva

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