Near to the Wild Heart

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By Clarice Lispector & Alison Entrekin &

Publisher Description

This new translation of Clarice Lispector's sensational first book tells the story of a middle class woman's life from childhood through an unhappy marriage and its dissolution to transcendence.

Near to the Wild Heart, published in Rio de Janeiro in 1943, introduced Brazil to what one writer called “Hurricane Clarice”: a twenty-three-year-old girl who wrote her first book in a tiny rented room and then baptized it with a title taken from Joyce: “He was alone, unheeded, near to the wild heart of life.”

The book was an unprecedented sensation — the discovery of a genius. Narrative epiphanies and interior monologue frame the life of Joana, from her middle-class childhood through her unhappy marriage and its dissolution to transcendence, when she proclaims: “I shall arise as strong and comely as a young colt.”

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434 Reviews

3.5

Anna

Created 4 days ago

marta

Created 5 days ago

“"Where does music go when it’s not playing?—she asked herself. And disarmed she would answer: May they make a harp out of my nerves when I die." "Freedom isn’t enough. What I desire doesn’t have a name yet." __________ I understand that some parts of this book went over my head, yet I loved it very much. I have full pages highlighted, with so many thoughts written at the margins, and I feel like that is the point of this book, to truly make us think. Can't wait to come back and read this book, or passages of it, with different eyes.”

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Cecilia Olvera

Created 9 days ago

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About Clarice Lispector

Clarice Lispector (1920–1977), the greatest Brazilian writer of the twentieth century, has been called “astounding” (Rachel Kushner), “a penetrating genius” (Donna Seaman, Booklist), and “one of the twentieth century’s most mysterious writers” (Orhan Pamuk).

Other books by Clarice Lispector

Covert Joy: Selected Stories

Clarice Lispector & Rachel Kushner

$20.98

The Apple in the Dark

Clarice Lispector & Benjamin Moser

$17.48

Too Much of Life: The Complete Crônicas

Clarice Lispector & Margaret Jull Costa

$26.23

An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures

Clarice Lispector & Stefan Tobler &

$15.95

The Hour of the Star: 100th Anniversary Edition

Clarice Lispector & Benjamin Moser &

$13.95

The Chandelier

Clarice Lispector & Magdalena Edwards &

$16.95

The Besieged City

Clarice Lispector & Benjamin Moser &

$16.95

Complete Stories

Clarice Lispector & Katrina Dodson &

$19.23

A Breath of Life

Clarice Lispector & Johnny Lorenz &

$15.95

The Passion According to G.H.

Clarice Lispector & Caetano Veloso &

$15.95

Água Viva

Clarice Lispector & Stefan Tobler &

$14.95

The Hour of the Star (Second Edition)

Clarice Lispector & Benjamin Moser &

$12.95

Selected Cronicas

Clarice Lispector & Giovanni Pontiero

$16.95

The Foreign Legion

Clarice Lispector & Giovanni Pontiero

$16.95

Alison Entrekin

Alison Entrekin has translated a number of works by Brazilian and Portuguese authors into English, including City of God by Paulo Lins and Budapest by Chico Buarque.

Other books by Alison Entrekin

My German Brother

Chico Buarque & Alison Entrekin

$17.99

The Shape of Bones

Daniel Galera & Alison Entrekin

$9.99

The End

Fernanda Torres & Alison Entrekin

$14.99

Blood-Drenched Beard

Daniel Galera & Alison Entrekin

$7.99

Spilt Milk

Alison Entrekin & Chico Buarque

$17.99

City of God

Alison Entrekin & Paulo Lins

$17.99

Benjamin Moser

General editor of the new translations of Clarice Lispector’s complete works at New Directions, BENJAMIN MOSER is the author of Why This World: The Biography of Clarice Lispector, and Sontag: Her Life and Work, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. His new book, The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters, will be published in October.