Near to the Wild Heart

Description

The sensational debut novel of one of the 20th century's greatest modernist writers Clarice Lispector's sensational, prize-winning debut novel Near to the Wild Heart was published when she was twenty-three and earned her the name 'Hurricane Clarice'. It tells the story of Joana, from her wild, creative childhood, as the 'little egg' who writes poems for her father, through her marriage to the faithless Otavio and on to her decision to make her own way in the world. As Joana, endlessly mutable, moves through different emotional states, this impressionistic, dreamlike and fiercely intelligent novel asks if any of us ever really know who we are.

Clarice Lispector (Author) Clarice Lispector was a Brazilian novelist and short-story writer. Her innovation in fiction brought her international renown. She was born in the Ukraine in 1920, but in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Civil War, the family fled to Romania and eventually Brazil. She published her first novel, Near to the Wildheart, in 1943, when she was just twenty-three, and the next year was awarded the Gra a Aranha Prize for the best first novel. She died in 1977, shortly after the publication of her final novel, The Hour of the Star.

Brilliant ... Lispector should be on the shelf with Kafka and Joyce * Los Angeles Times * A genius -- Colm Toibin * Guardian * A truly remarkable writer -- Jonathan Franzen Lispector's novels offer a stark counterpoint to much of modern life's focus on individual fame * The Boston Globe * One of the twentieth century's most mysterious writers -- Orhan Pamuk The originality of Near to the Wild Heart lies in its technique and language: self conscious, bleakly humourous, but poetic ... We now finally have a translation worthy of Clarice Lispector's inimitable style. Go out and buy it. -- JS Tennant * Observer *