Todas as crônicas

Todas as crônicas / Complete Chronicles

Non-fiction , 2018

Rocco

Pages: 704

After the impressive success of Todos os Contos, this definitive edition contains all of this legendary Brazilian author’s chronicles, with over 120 unpublished texts. 

Since Joachim Machado de Assis, Brazil has upheld a rich tradition of great chroniclers. In this constellation, Clarice’s star burns especially bright.

Clarice Lispector's stories for the Jornal do Brasil were written “with a flying pen” between 1967 and 1973. This volume, which includes texts published in other newspapers and magazines, finally gives us a panoramic view. The Lispector we find here is the housewife facing domestic problems: the family budget, the soup tureen that needs to be returned, the chronic silence of the telephone, raising children. But she is also the Lispector who speaks to us of love, the revolt against resignation, the self, the passage of time, and death. In short, the Lispector capable of transforming everyday life into pure metaphysics.

"If she played with the superficial truth, it was in service, she believed, of exposing one deeper, of passing readers a brief-lit lantern for the moonless dark of ourselves, even if that light revealed, sometimes, more contradiction, more chaos, more flittering soul-storm. Her crônicas blurred lines between genre—some are like little Zen koans, some lyrical reminiscences, while others, like “Return to Nature,” are harder to categorize, reading like parables or flash fiction. At times, they also muddied demarcations between nonfiction and fiction, resurrecting the oldest question of form: Where does nonfiction truly end and fiction begin, and what do we do with texts where we do not know the answer?"—The Paris Review

“Ce livre de Clarice Lispector est une mine d’or” —Jean-Paul Gavard-Perret

“Chacun de ses textes est comme un petit bijou ciselé” —Kerenn Elkaim, Livres Hebdo

“Il me suffit de lire au hasard trois lignes de Clarice Lispector pour remercier le ciel.” —Patrick Corneau

“Indeed, these columns should establish her as being among the era’s most brilliant essayists. She is masterful, even reminiscent of Montaigne, in her ability to spin the mundane events of life into moments of clarity that reveal greater truths. Superb, wonderfully obsessed with exuberance and what it unlocks and reveals.” Publishers Weekly, starred

"An excellent collection for readers who enjoy commentaries and observations from a wise, entertaining, realistic writer. Good choice for readers who enjoy essays by Anne Lamott and Ann Patchett.” —Library Journal, starred review 

"Reading Lispector — who, in the words of one of her translators, “looked like Marlene Dietrich and wrote like Virginia Woolf” — is unlike reading anyone else. […] Too Much of Life evidence a perspicacious and playful mind keen to share in the magic and mystery of living." —Franklin Nelson, FT

"For those unfamiliar with her, this book opens a door into her uniquely challenging and rewarding body of work. Stretching over a decade – and across nearly 800 pages – the pieces, some amounting to a few sentences, some many pages long, make up a self-portrait in bits and pieces. The result is, like Lispector herself, witty, mystical, surreal and profound: a treasure to return to again and again." —Observer

“No two columns are alike: strands of dialogue, observed scenes, diaristic entries, life advice, even the author admiring herself in the mirror…Too Much of Life is a huge addition to an already impressive collection of evidence that Lispector could transcribe a guestbook and make it interesting.” —J. Howard Rosier, Vulture best new books

"A kind of literary LSD," —Miranda France at TLS on Twitter