The sad end of Clarice Lispector or The passion according to Lima Barreto: the precarious language of Macabéa and Clara dos Anjos

Abstract

This article aims to create a comparative reading between the novels Clara dos Anjos, by Lima Barreto, and A hora da estrela, by Clarice Lispector. Therefore, the attempt to develop an own language will be the converging theme between the narratives, based on the fictional experiences of the protagonists. As a theoretical approach, the investigation starts from a bibliographic research that runs through the post-colonial tradition, here indicated by the writings of the philosopher Achille Mbembe, the theorist Gayatri Spivak and the psychiatrist Frantz Fanon. This approach also requires the notion of framing proposed by the American philosopher Judith Butler, whose ideas allow a better discussion around the non-hegemonic aspect of bodies, an essential reading key for the characters studied in this work. Thus, based on the comparative method of analysis, the article demonstrates the extent to which the precariousness of language can be used as a tool in reading these two novels. It proposes an interpretative possibility for the two works from a contemporary perspective, based on the social markers of difference and the formation of colonial societies. Keywords: Lima Barreto; Clarice Lispector; Brazilian literature; comparative literature, postcolonial theory.