The Stream of Life (Emergent Literature)

Rating:
Summary: The Continuous Stream of Being
Review: Clarice Lispector's "Stream of Life" takes her experimentations with language in "The Passion According to G.H" to an even more abstract level in this novella, if anyone can define it as such. Her fluid use of symbols and language attemps at the impossible: narrating the unspeakable. From this perspective, the reader can appreciate the apparently meaningless meandering of her words and let go of trying to understand. In her own words, "Let go of understanding. To be alive far surpasses the limits of understanding." With this in mind, I was able to enjoy my reading of this work as one who lives fully, wholly present in the company of a witch who uses words to enlighten the dark depths of our pre-historical caves. Viva Clarice!

Rating:
Summary: The Continuous Stream of Being
Review: Clarice Lispector's "Stream of Life" takes her experimentations with language in "The Passion According to G.H" to an even more abstract level in this novella, if anyone can define it as such. Her fluid use of symbols and language attemps at the impossible: narrating the unspeakable. From this perspective, the reader can appreciate the apparently meaningless meandering of her words and let go of trying to understand. In her own words, "Let go of understanding. To be alive far surpasses the limits of understanding." With this in mind, I was able to enjoy my reading of this work as one who lives fully, wholly present in the company of a witch who uses words to enlighten the dark depths of our pre-historical caves. Viva Clarice!

Rating:
Summary: startling and beautiful; one of my favorite books
Review: This is by no means an easy read, but it is beautiful. Lispector is often compared to Joyce; her psychological landscapes and stream of consciousness writing can be likened to his. However, Lispector's writing is thoroughly Brazilian, warm and soft, feminine, dreamlike, interior, yet unafraid of starker realities at the same time. Stream of Life, Lispector's masterpiece, poses the question, "What does it mean to be at the crux of life?" In the process of asking this question, the book's sense of time and concrete reality expands. There are no real narrative boundaries... nothing to exactly grasp on to. It is because of this that this book is difficult. But as much as it is difficult, it is rewarding. It's an intriguing work, trying to explain life while at the same time be life. It begins, "It's such an hallelujah..." and there is rejoicing. it is a book rejoicing in life, wondering at it, and hungering for more of it.