Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector

(Paperback)

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A new and passionate biography of Brazil's most important, and legendary writer of the twentieth century "That rare person who looked like Marlene Dietrich and wrote like Virginia Woolf," Clarice Lispector is one of the most popular but least understood of Latin American writers. After years of research on three continents, drawing on previously unknown manuscripts and dozens of interviews, Benjamin Moser demonstrates how Lispector's development as a writer was directly connected to the story of her turbulent life. From Chechelnik to Recife, Naples and Bern to Washington and Rio de Janeiro, Why This World strips away the mythology surrounding this extraordinary figure and shows how Clarice Lispector transformed her own struggles into a universally resonant art.

Reviews

Clarice Lispector is one of the hidden geniuses of twentieth-century literature. Utterly original and brilliant, haunting and disturbing ... Benjamin Moser's biography is a great book about a Jewish heroine, filled with sympathy for what must remain hidden and what must be understood -- Colm Tibn
Everything about Lispector was unlikely: her great beauty, her early fame, her unique voice, her status as an icon to the Brazilians. In Moser, she has found a gifted young biographer, social historian, and prose stylist who is able to take her elusive measure. This book is enthralling.' -- Judith Thurman
Lispector is one of the summits of Latin American literature. Whether or not you know this delicate and powerful woman, this splendid biography deserves to be read. After finishing it, you will be in love with her' -- Guillermo Arriaga
Glamorous, cultured, moody, Lispector is an emblematic twentieth-century artist who belongs in the same pantheon as Kafka and Joyce. Benjamin Moser has recreated all the psychological and cultural context needed to understand this great writer, and brought to life her essentially tragic nature in all its complexity -- Edmund White

Author Bio

Benjamin Moser is the author of Why This World- A Biography of Clarice Lispector, a finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle Award. His work bringing Clarice Lispector to international prominence was recognized with Brazil's State Prize for Cultural Diplomacy. His most recent book, Sontag- Her Life, won the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Utrecht, in the central Netherlands.