Possible and Impossible Dialogues: Clarice Lispector's Interview

Please join us for the LACIS Lunchtime Lecture by Claire Williams

Tuesdays 12:30pm-1:30PM - 206 Ingraham Hall

Traces of Clarice Lispector's experiences as an interviewer of public figures for popular magazines can be found in her literary texts: they are full of unanswered questions and searches for identity. Her characters are also often yearning for an interlocutor who can understand and appreciate them, with whom they can establish a constructive and enriching dialogue. The interviews themselves are interesting from a biographical and aesthetic point of view but also because the choice of interviewees, ranging from sportsmen to businessmen, actresses to First Ladies, paints a portrait of Brazil at two key moments in history: the late 1960s, when it was in the depths of dictatorship, and the late 1970s, when it was being run by a fledgling democracy. In my talk I will pay particular attention to the unpublished interviews