Short Stories, Irish literature, Classics, Modern Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction, The Japanese Novel, Post Colonial Asian Fiction, The Legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and quality Historical Novels are Among my Interests








Saturday, October 27, 2018

"Waters of the World" by Clarice Lispector. ( From The Complete ShortStories of Clarice Lispector. (2015)

"Waters of the World" can be read in translation here






Most of the press reviews of The Complete Short Stories of Clarice Lispector, translated by Katrina Dodson, edited-and introduced by Benjamin Moser, 2015) say the stories can be seen as an account of the life of a woman, from her early twenties down to her ending years.  Much is made of the once stunning beauty of Clarice.  If someone speaks only this in talking of the stories collectively it tells me they no doubt only read a few of the 85 stories.  My main purpose in posting on "The Waters of the World" is to let my readers know the great translator Katrina Dodson has kindly placed this story online.

This is as good a short story as I have yet read about the primal power of the sea.  One of the deeper themes in Lispector is the ability of the strength of raw nature to bring us a sense of near cosmic connection with our atavistic nature. 

"And now she steps onto the sand. She knows she is glistening with water, and salt and sun. Even if she forgets a few minutes from now, she can never lose all this. And she knows in some obscure way that her streaming hair is from a castaway. Because she knows—she knows she has created a danger. A danger as ancient as the human being."

Mel u

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