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A review by jkstonge
Água Viva by Clarice Lispector
5.0
Água Viva is truly a masterpiece. Clarice Lispector writes in this lyrical way that honestly feels so fresh and different, and the prose is so gorgeous it reads as poetry. There's no discernible plot, but it is the writing pace that drives you through her words. It's a bit of chaos, meant to soothe rather than cause you to stumble. It makes me truly appreciate how impressive it is to translate writing—clearly there's a link between translation and my five star reads. Stefan Tobler translates Clarice Lispector with incredible care, it makes me want to learn Portuguese to be able to read Lispector in the original language. The English translation is so good I could only imagine how rich the prose is in Portuguese is. I found myself reading the book aloud to myself, as reading it required that sort of care. I would read everything Clarice Lispector has to say and more.
way too many quotes, I'm so sorry (I'm not sorry in the slightest):
"And like a bird I sing hallelujah into the air. And my song belongs to no one. But no passion suffered in pain and love is not followed by a hallelujah."
"I am entering a very new and genuine chapter, curious about itself, so appealing and personal that I can't paint it or write it."
"A new era, this is my own, and it announced me right away. Am I brave enough?"
"...and all this is the prayer of a black mass, and a creeping plea for amen: because the bad is unprotected and needs the approval of God: that is creation."
"I speak today—not yesterday or tomorrow—but today and at this actual perishable instant."
"Read the energy that is in my silence. Ah I fear God and his silence."
"I swallow a mouthful of blood that fills me entirely. I hear cymbals and trumpets and tambourines that fill the air with noise and uproar drowning out the silence of the disc of the sun and its marvel. I want a cloak woven from threads of solar gold. The sun is the magical tension of the silence."
"If I had to force myself to write to you I would be so sad. Sometimes I can't stand the strength of inspiration. Then I paint with a heavy heart. It's so good that things don't depend on me."
"I want to feel in my probing hands the living and quivering nerve of the today."
"Do I not have a plot to my life? for I am unexpectedly fragmentary. I am piecemeal. My story is living. And I have no fear of failure. Let failure annihilate me, I want the glory of falling."
"I am an urgent object."
way too many quotes, I'm so sorry (I'm not sorry in the slightest):
"And like a bird I sing hallelujah into the air. And my song belongs to no one. But no passion suffered in pain and love is not followed by a hallelujah."
"I am entering a very new and genuine chapter, curious about itself, so appealing and personal that I can't paint it or write it."
"A new era, this is my own, and it announced me right away. Am I brave enough?"
"...and all this is the prayer of a black mass, and a creeping plea for amen: because the bad is unprotected and needs the approval of God: that is creation."
"I speak today—not yesterday or tomorrow—but today and at this actual perishable instant."
"Read the energy that is in my silence. Ah I fear God and his silence."
"I swallow a mouthful of blood that fills me entirely. I hear cymbals and trumpets and tambourines that fill the air with noise and uproar drowning out the silence of the disc of the sun and its marvel. I want a cloak woven from threads of solar gold. The sun is the magical tension of the silence."
"If I had to force myself to write to you I would be so sad. Sometimes I can't stand the strength of inspiration. Then I paint with a heavy heart. It's so good that things don't depend on me."
"I want to feel in my probing hands the living and quivering nerve of the today."
"Do I not have a plot to my life? for I am unexpectedly fragmentary. I am piecemeal. My story is living. And I have no fear of failure. Let failure annihilate me, I want the glory of falling."
"I am an urgent object."