Dimensions of the Impersonal in Clarice Lispector

This book explores the fictional work of Clarice Lispector (1920–1977), the eminent twentieth-century Brazilian writer. It employs the theoretical framework of "affirmative biopolitics" by Roberto Esposito, engaging with Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben, alongside voices like Mircea Eliade, Anthony Giddens, and Agata Bielik-Robson. The focus is on rethinking and valuing “impersonality,” crucial for understanding the anthropological, metaphysical, ethical, and political implications in Lispector's works. The main thesis posits that Lispector’s writings, from journalistic chronicles to significant books like The Passion According to G.H., present a complex anthropological vision marked by an ontological and ethical “deadlock” between personality and impersonality. This vision suggests that humans are trapped in a personal mode of existence, separated from their ontological essence, leading to a metaphysical guilt. The book analyzes this deadlock both in individual and communal-political contexts, highlighting the cryptotheological dimension in Lispector’s mystical and messianic themes rooted in Jewish tradition.

Wojciech Sawala is an assistant professor in the Department of Portuguese at Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan, Poland. Comparatist and Latin Americanist, he specializes in the continent’s twentieth-century narrative classics, including Borges, Cortázar, Lispector, and Guimarães Rosa. His research interests include biopolitics, postsecularism and Jewish messianism.