Clarice Lispector

I'm in the most brilliant Lit. class right now and we're reading this book called "Family Ties" by Clarice Lispector. She's a Brazilian Feminist who writes innovative novels and short stories and they're absolutely fantastic. It's like every single line is poetry with underlying meanings, and I can't get enough of it! Here's a bit from the last story i read - "Happy Birthday" that i found inspiring. I highly recommend everyone check it out.


"But no one could imagine what she was thinking. And for those near the door who gave her one final look, the old lady was only what she appeared to be: seated at the head of that messy table, with one hand clenched on the tablecloth as if holding a scepter, and with that silence which was her final word. with her clenched fist on the table, she would no longer be only what she thought. Her appearance had finally surpassed her and, overcoming it, she serenely grew in stature. Cordelia looked at her in terror. That fist, mute and severe on the table, was revealing something to the unhappy daughter-in-law who was helplessly loving her perhaps for the last time. One must know. One must know. Life is so short. Life is so short."