Hélène Cixous and the Hour of Clarice Lispector

Author(s): Anna Klobucka

Source: SubStance, Vol. 23, No. 1, Issue 73 (1994), pp. 41-62
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H6k1neCixous
and theHour ofClariceLispector

AnnaKlobucka

euficomuito
Quando Eusdexisto
eundoexisto.
sozinha, nodidlogo.
ClariceLispector
Ntodeixar
personnemedando desordres.
ClariceLispector1

Une BelleLoveAffaire

Itall beganon thetwelfth fellinlove

ofOctober1978,thedayH16Pne
withClarice. That day, less thana year afterClarice Lispector'suntimely
death at the age of 52, Hl'ne Cixous discovered in the work of the
Brazilianwritera wealthof inspirationthatbroughtherout of a creative
impasse,and was tobecomea guidinglightforherown writingin yearsto
come.As shewrote:
A writingcame,withgleaming handsin thedarkness, whenI no longer
daredtohelpmyself, so far
mywriting away pure in I spokeno
solitude...
more,I fearedmyvoice,I fearedthebirds'voices,andall ofthecallsthat
lookoutside,and thereis no outsideexceptnothingness, and are extin-
guished-awriting foundmewhenI wasunfindable tomyself.(1989a,12)2
If themomentlove strikesis ultimately unsayable,theabundantflow
of writingwhich this textualcoupde foudrehas since engenderedclearly
allows and meritsattentivescrutiny. It is,however,a difficultand ungrate-
ful task to approach passion in a spiritof cold-heartedanalysis:a lover's
discoursemust not be spoken of,"it admitsno description,only simula-
tion."The above definitioncomes fromRoland Barthes'sown memorable
simulation,which "offersthereadera discursivesite:thesite of someone
speaking withinhimself,amorously, confronting the other(the loved ob-
ject),who does not speak" (4). Portraying thelover as "someonespeaking
within himself,"Barthes'scharacterization seems perfectlydesigned to
the
highlight differently outlined discursive space in whichHe16neCixous
places her own reading and writingof/with/through Clarice Lispector.

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42 AnnaKlobucka

ForiftheBarthean (male)lover'sdiscourseis oneof"extreme solitude"(1),

of"absenceoftheother"(17),a discoursepoignantly toitsobject
external
whichitcanat bestenveloplike"a verygentleglove"(28),Cixousin her
roleofa (female)loverofLispector's callingfora
textstagesa relationship
quite distinctset of interpretive
metaphors. Speakingof Vivrel'orange
(1979),one oftheearliestand mostsuccessful enactments ofthisintertex-
tual liaison,JeanLarose describesits way of communicating with
Lispector'sworksas onedependent noton a closeness
... semblable
Acelledesbandelettes quiemaillottent
unemomie, maisAla
manibre-musicale-dontune fenetren'est plus un miroir;avec la
de la grace,toujours
simplicitM distraitede soi,d'unedistraction
propre Ala
presencegracieuseetinnocentede l'enfance,du paradisou de l'orange...
(88)
Cixous's"lover'sdiscourse"is thuspresented as no longermerelyencir-
clingitsdesired
(textual)
other, be ittenderly a softglove)orwiththe
(like
morbidpossessivenessofa mummy'swrappings,nordoes itmerelyreflect
infront
uponitself ofa Narcissus's(orLacan's)mirror-instead
itproduces
a truepossibility
ofcommunication throughthewindow ofprelapsarian
innocence.
Mostimportantly, Cixous's"lovedobject"-thetextofClariceLispec-
tor-is creditedwith the power to speak foritselfwithinthe discursive
space engenderedby thelovingsubject(Cixous's metatext).For according
to Cixous,successfullovingas well as readingdemandsa faithful
recogni-
tionof theOther'sautonomousmeaning.Such an approachis stressed,for
instance,by the participantsin her seminarsat the Universit6de Paris
and at theCollkgeInternational
VIII-Vincennes where
de Philosophie,
texts
Lispector's are a constant
and prominent As
presence. one of the
seminarmembersremarks,
thisfaithfulnesstotheother a veryclosereading
requires ofthetext,a word
bywordreading. Eachword,eachalinea,eachcommaassumesitsmean-
ing.In fact,itis thiscombination andrigorwhichI findso
offaithfulness
valuablein theseminar--a combinationwhichtruly enablesa readingto
bringa textalive.(Sellers
148)
No longer a wrapped-up mummy,the dead textis broughtalive,
made to speak itsown meaning,itsown truedesire.And so, presumably,
is thedead writer,in thiscase ClariceLispector.Itshouldbe acknowledged
that the Brazilian writer,few of whose works had been translatedinto
Frenchand/or Englishbeforethefatefulyearof 1978,has come to achieve
considerableprominenceon the Franco-American literaryand academic

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Cixous and Lispector 43

circuit
H0l0nedue preciselyto Cixous's passionatelypersonalinvolvement
in the propagationof Lispector'swritings.Althoughhailed by Brazilian
criticsand scholarsas one of the most remarkableliteraryfiguresof this
century,equalled in her statureonly by Joao GuimarAesRosa, Lispector
would likelyremainmoreor less unknownon theinternational scenewere
it not forher sudden stardom,triggeredby Cixous's recognitionin her
work of an "outstandingillustrationof 'femininewriting"'(Sellers 6).
Thus,particularlyin Americanacademia,Lispector'sgrowingprominence
has become closelyassociated withthedisseminationof the theoriesand
practicesof theFrenchliteraryand criticalcurrentof &criture
feminine.The
followingfragmentof a scholarlyarticleneatly,if somewhatdrastically,
exemplifiesthissituation:
Americanreadershave recentlystartedto look criticallyat what
proponents of6criture havetosayabouttheory,
frminine women'swriting,
and women'scauses-social,politicaland economic. Cixous'stextsand
statementsarereceiving
greaterandgreater disseminationhere.Givenher
currententhusiasm forLispector,we shouldlookat Lispector's as
texts,
inordertounderstand
well-first, Cixous'senthusiasm forthem;second,to
seean exampleofthe6criture
ffminine thatCixouscalledforinthe"Rirede
la M&iuse."Wemight alsosee in Lispector's
texts...an indication
ofthe
furtherdevelopmentofCixous'sowntexts. (Armbruster 155)
Some othersare clearlymore equal than otherothers.The interest
Lispector'sworks mighthold for feministliterarycriticsis reduced by
Armbruster to theirprovidingan interesting gloss of Cixous's own ideas,
and Lispectorherselfis seen as a successful(ifunconscious)apprenticeof
&criture
fminine:
Lispector welltoa number
responds ofCixous'sexhortations,
forexample,
forwomento write, to writeaboutwomen,to liberate
theNewWoman
fromtheOld,toinscribethebreath
ofthewholewoman, tobring womento
writing.Cixoushas thusfoundin Lispector
something of a soul mate.
(152-3).
Whetheras masterand apprenticeor as soul mates,Cixous and Lispector
are clearlyseen as almostone and thesame. AnothercritictermsLispector
a "Cixousian" writerand assertsthatwhile "Clarice Lispector'swriting
appears different fromCixous'. . . it is one and the same, by the com-
monality oftheirvision" (Fisher25). Even a criticlikeSusan Suleiman,who
is carefuland suspicious enough to inquire whethersuch "findingthe
'unhoped-forother'[is not]but a way offindingone's otherself,"ultimate-
ly declaresthetwo authorsto be

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44 AnnaKlobucka

... notone,but... veryclose,veryclose;so closethatinrereading

Clarice's
inorder
texts tounderstandthelastworkshewrote shedied(The
before
HouroftheStar),
H.C.isbrought
toreread,
andrewrite, ofherown.
several
xiii-xv)
(1991,
Therecan certainly be no doubtthatLispector's workhas beenenor-
mously on
influential Cixous's literary and criticaldevelopment. Whatis
striking abouttheaboveassessments, however, stemsfromtheirnot-so-
subtlereversalofthisintertextual relationship,Lispector becoming in ef-
fectmore"Cixousian"thanCixousherself has been "Lispectorian." The
unquestioning ease withwhichthisinterpretive turnabout is performed
mightbe attributed to a relianceon specifically feminine modelsofinter-
subjective communication, as articulated, forinstance, in Luce Irigaray's
celebrated essay"Quandnosl1vresse parlent"(1977). This textualenact-
mentof an all-female amorousand discursive relationship is basedon a
premise of absolutereciprocity, in which "thereis no for
place an economy
of exchange, or ofopposition betweencontraries. The loversare neither
twonorone,neither different northesame,butun-different (indiffirentes)"
(Suleiman1986,13). Yet,whileCixous's"dialogue"withLispector in its
mostintensely lyricalmoments appears tocallfor a complete meltdown of
boundaries between(foreign) bodies,languagesand texts, italso declares
itselfrespectful oftheultimately irreducibleotherness ofitscounterpart:
"Il fautque l'autrereste6trangissime dans la plus grandeproximit6"
(Cixous1989a,157).Itis thetension betweenthetwotermsofthisirresis-
tibleparadoxthatI wouldliketo explorehere.Ratherthanrelyon the
theoriesof 6criturefiminine, I will insteadhighlightpreciselythose
categories whichCixousherself has beenemphasizing in hermostrecent
both
writings, literary and critical:the categoriesbelonging to"thesceneof
History," to borrow an expression from the titleof one of herarticles
(1989b).
Is Lispector's(Brazilian)foreignness respectedor assimilatedby
Cixousand hercommentators? Is her(Portuguese) literary voicetrans-
mittedor silencedby themetadiscursive maze withwhichit has been
surrounded? In thefollowing section, I willattempt toidentify thosesites
on themapofthemeta-Lispectorian discourse where, geopoliticallyspeak-
ing,thenobleprincipleof non-intervention clasheswiththe pervasive
practiceof (post-)colonial invasionand domestication of (non-Western
European) culturalotherness.

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CixousandLispector 45

A Geopoeticsof(Mis)Translation

AnAlgerian Jewwitha Germanmother anda father whoseSephardic

familyused to speakSpanishat home;a womanlivingin a country and
in a
writing language thathad to become, insteadof simplybeing, her own;
a survivor whohad thegreatlucktobe bornin 1937notin Germany, but
in Oran,Algeria(Suleiman1991,xviii-xix): by virtue ofher multicultural
identity and a lifestorypowerfully moldedby historical circumstance,
Helene Cixous has never been unaware of the and
linguistic geopolitical
contingencies ofone'ssubjectposition. Itis nowonder, too,thatsheshould
be drivenbya passionfor"breaking downthewall"(ibid,ix),notonlythe
onebetweenherself andwriting, between"man"and "woman,""self"and
"other,"but also thosemultipleBerlinwalls thatare constantly being
erectedand brought downthrough successesand failures oftranscultural
(mis)translations.
One ofCixous'sfavorite mottosis Kafka'sseductively enigmatic sen-
tence,"Limonadees warallesso grenzenlos," whichinherFrench transla-
tion becomes "Limonade tout etait si infini."In Susan Suleiman's
introduction toan Englishtranslation ofCixous'sessays,theGermanword
"grenzenlos" is rendered as both"infinite" and "boundless," at thesame
timefollowingthe Frenchversionand departing fromit to producea
translationmoreaccurately mirroring theoriginal. I choosetosee thetwist
of meaningbetween,on theone hand,grenzenlos/boundless and, on the
as symptomatic
other,infinilinfinite, ofCixous'scontradictory shiftsofap-
proach to cultural otherness, which oftenoccur in her poeticvoyages
acrossforeignlands,bodiesand texts.As Suleimanemphasizesin her
introduction, forCixous,"breaking downwallsdoesnotnecessarily-not
to
desirably-lead oneness,"butinstead"totherecognition ofcomposite
selves,composite tongues"(xii).Thisis,in a word,the"geopoetics" ofa
mosaicratherthanof a meltingpot.Whilewalls disappear,theirtraces
mustremain,as in a mosaicwherethenonexistent linemarksthedif-
ferencebetweengreenand blue,betweenred and yellow.And yet,in
"infini,"boundaries("die Grenze")areerasedwithout a traceevenas the
pluralityinscribed in thecomposite wor(l)d("grenzen-los," "bound-less")
is preserved in theapparentonenessoftheequallycomposite "in-finity."
Thus "grenzenlos" and "infini"sharewithothercomplexsignsof our
times-such as "postmodern," "decentered"or "indeterminacy"-the
characteristic of paradoxically incorporating whattheyaim to contest
(Hutcheon 3),displaying theirmemory ofwallsbeingbrought down,or,as
somewouldargue,theirstigmaofcomplicity. Buttheboundaries being

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46 AnnaKlobucka

preserved/contested areno longerthesameonesas thoseof

in "infinity"
"grenzenlos,"justas "limits"aredifferentfrom"borders": a poeticfantasy
ofbound-less, limit-less
expansion the
supplants geopolitical concreteness
ofcreationanderasureofborders(a timely issueinKafka'sEurope,bythe
way-and inCixous's).In addition, while"borders" tendtobe,almostby
definition,
plural,"infinity"evokesan undifferentiatedoneness--can there
be several
infinities?
In Cixous'sreadingand writing ofClariceLispector, thedelights and
perilsof translation inevitablyconstitutea prominent, self-consciously
highlightedtheme.Theimperative offaithfulness towardtheOther(text)
is frequentlymentioned, and so is theriskof betrayal, of becominga
translator-traitor
("traduttore Andyet,forall theirself-aware-
tradittore").
ness,Cixous'sLispectorian writingsoftendisplaya sortofslipsimilarto
thatwhich,as I haveargued,occursbetween"grenzenlos" and "infini":
Lispector'stext'sculturaland individualOtherness disappearswithout a
trace,
leavingbehind only sucha pale of
reflection as
itself in
can, effect, be
labeled"Cixousian."In orderto venturea possibleexplanation forthis
we
tendency, might look at Cixous'sfirst of on
piece writing Lispector, an
articlepublishedin theFrenchjournalPoctique (1979):there, as TorilMoi
observes,CixousstressestheBrazilianwriter's "capacitytoendowwords
withtheiressentialmeaning"(115):
Encestemps pasce quenous
o1tnousnevivons
etparesseux,
violents
plus ce que les chosesveulentnousdire
vivons... nousn'entendons
noustraduisons,
encore, noustraduisons, etreduction,
toutesttraduction il
nereste plusriendela merqu'unmotsanseaux:carnousavons
presque
aussitraduit
lesmots, nouslesavonsvidesde leursparoles,seches,
r~duits,
embaumbs, etils ne peuvent plusnousrappeler comment ilssurgissaient
deschosesautrefoiscomme quand,dejoie,elles
l'4clatdeleurrireessentiel,
ellesexultaient
s'appelaient, leurnom-parfum; et"mer","mer"sentait al-
gues, bruissaitsel, et nous gocitionsl'aimbeinfinie,nous l4chions
le selde sa parolesurnoslMvres.
l'Ftrangbre,
qu'unevoixclaricedise:la mer,la mer,pourque macoquille
Maisil suffit
la mers'appelle,
&clate, mer!m'appelle,eaux!merappelle,etj'yvais,vague,
je merappelleAelle.(412-13)
Itis impossible
tooverlookthefactthatthelastsentences vibrate with
theonewordwhichneverappears inthequotedpassage,evenas itisspoken
byit,againand again:la mte.3Phonetically fromla mer,
indistinguishable
it is theFrenchmother thatthe"voiceclarice"has thepowertobringinto
existence.And thenthewalls go down,"[la] coquille&clate,"and the
memoryreturns of thetimewhen"nousgofitions l'aim"einfinie,nous
l1chions
l'0trangIre, le selde sa parolesurnoslxvres."Butthetasteis salty

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CixousandLispector 47

liketears,notsweetlikemother's milk;thesea/mother is an "etrangere,"

yet she can only be mother in French. Am I beingoutrageously far-fetched
in suggesting thatLispector as well,whileremaining "foreign," mustbe
reinvented as French inordertotruly becomemother forCixous?Andthat
theviolentdistastefortheconstant needto "translate and reduce"might
a
perhapsbetray wandering Jewoman's fatigue and frustration, as wellas
a nostalgicdesirefora mother/land ofherown?
Thereis, however, one morereasonwhyI havechosento quotethe
abovepassage.If,in Cixous'sinterpretation, the"voixclarice"bringsout
the trueessenceof things,if it singsout thesea, and thesea becomes
mother, and mother givesrebirth toHdlene(la coquille &clate)-this entire,
beautifully woven, poetic web would fallapart, were we to pay attention
towhatthevoiceofClariceLispector actually sayswhenitspeaksthesea.
For,in Portuguese, thesea is no longermother; it is, in fact,"o mar,"a
masculine noun.Bringing ina markofan otherness truly foreign, carriedby
a doublyalien-Portuguese and masculine--intruder, wouldsurelyshat-
tertheblissfulbalancein whichla merand la m&eco-exist in theFrench
sign,allowingH6lknetobe reborn. Whichis probably why Cixous herself
doesn'tmention thePortuguese noun,eventhoughitis herfrequent habit
to comment on thegrammatical of
gender keywords,both herown in
worksand inLispector's.
The moststriking exercisein multilingual ecriture, whichLispector's
foreignness, interwoven withherown,prompted Cixoustoproduce, is the
essay Vivrel'orange/To LivetheOrange, firstpublishedby desfemmesin
1977,and reprinted in thevolumeL'HeuredeClarice Lispector (8-113).4The
linguisticbackbone of the essay is a side-by-side English-French transla-
tion;however,it also incorporates wordsfroma numberof otherlan-
guages:Portuguese, Italian,Spanish,Latin,German. Furthermore, thetwo
sidesoftheessaydo notmirror eachotherwiththeconventional accuracy
ofa translation. Whileitis truethateverytranslation has no choicebutto
be,tosomedegree,a mis-translation, thisoneself-consciously anddefiant-
lyexhibits its faultiness. To illustrate,letme a
quote particularly dazzling
passage:
juiveou fuis-je
Juis-je femme? JoyI donna?
judiaou suis-jemulher?
Jouis-je
ou fruoenfilha?
Fuis-jefemme
ou est-cequeje mer4-juive?
(35).
AmI enjewingmyself?OrwoeI woman?
WinI woman, orwontI jew-ich?
JoyI donna?Gioiajew?Orgioiamfemme?
Fruo.(34)
A very"Cixousian" text,Vivrel'orange/To LivetheOrangeis neverthe-
less also botha paean to ClariceLispector'scomingintoCixous's life,and,

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48 AnnaKlobucka

ostensibly,a readingoftheBrazilianwriter'snovelA paixiosegundo G.H.,

publishedshortly beforein Frenchtranslation des
by femmes (as La Passion
selonG.H.).Andhere'swherethetrouble Inordertoarticulate
starts. what
it is thatI findso troublesome aboutVivrel'orange,let me firstquote
another reader
inquisitive of Cixous'sessay,Sharon Willis:
HowcanI readthistext?Is it,initsoriginary accessible
bilingualness, only
tothebilingual sinceoneis constantly
reader, suspendedbetween thetwo
languages?HowcanI readit?Wheredoesitaddressme,inmyEnglish or
inmyFrench? .... Whois itsreader? theonewhoinhabits
Possibly andis
inhabited
bybothlanguages, attheborderbetween them.(77)
The networkof communicationgeneratedby Vivrel'orange(communica-
tionbetweenthetextand itsreader,as well as betweenthetwosides ofthe
text)is here subordinatedto the originarypremiseof its French-English
bilingualness,both the speakingsubject(s)and the implied readerbeing
"inhabitedby both languages," and balancingtheirwriting/reading "at
the borderbetween them."While gainingaccess to the textrequiresthe
sophisticationof a bilingual competence,Vivrel'orangestops short of
movingbeyond itsself-contained French/Englishdi-versityand of fulfill-
ing its Utopian potentialof becominga "nonsiteinhabitedby so many
languages thatit is anchoredin none" (Willis81). Such a textualmosaic,
were itpossibleto compose,would echo Cixous's recollectionofhergrow-
ing up in themidstof a linguisticmdlange:
Andthetonguethatwas singing in myears?It was languages:Spanish,
Arabic,German,French. Everythingon thisearthcomesfrom faroff,
even
whatis verynear.I listened
toall thelanguages.I sanginGerman.I also
cackledwiththehens.(1989b,2)
A memoryof such vertiginousmulti-versity is indeed reflectedin Vivre
l'orange,through its copious use of "foreign"(that is, foreignto both
Englishand French)linguisticelements.Given thispolyglotqualityof the
text,what am I still complainingabout? A closer look at the treatment
accordedto one such intrusionmighthelp explainmy continuingdissatis-
factionwith thestatusof thosenot-fully-resident aliens in theapparently
egalitariangeopoeticfantasy of Vivrel'orange.
There can be no doubt that thekey word in the essay is the one
incorporatedin its titleand displaced throughoutits texture,a transla-
tion/stand-in forits everysign and theme,be it women,Jews,writing,or
the body: theorange,l'orange,laranja(Willis 77). The orange is also the
symbolicpoint of (mis-)communication between Lispectorand Cixous,
translating,as it does, Lispector's"apple" (fromhernovel TheApplein the

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Cixous and Lispector 49

Dark)intothefruitwhose name carries,forCixous,an infinite potentialfor

poetic and interpretive
transformations, beginningwith "Oran-je,"an ad-
ditionof Cixous's (French)"I" to the name of her native (Algerian)city,
Oran (1989b,2).
In Vivrel'orange,however,the orange is, above all, the Giftwhich
Hel"ne receivesfromClarice,thegiftof rebirth, of blissfulrediscoveryof
thelostwor(1)ds:
Itwasa merenothing,-that seizedmeabsolutely. Atoncetaken.
TheGift.
Sheshowedmea faceand I saw it,I had thesightofthisface.Thenshe
showedmea fruit, whichhadbecomeforeign tome,andshegavemeback
thesightofthisfruit.
Shereadittome,withherhumidandtender voice,
shecalledit naranja,
shetranslatedit,intomytongue,andI rediscovered
I re-knew
thetasteofthelostorange, theorange.(52)
C'etaitunrien,--qui m'asaisieabsolument. Le Don.Aussitot prise.Ellem'a
montre un visageetje l'ai vu,j'ai eu la vuede ce visage.Ensuiteellem'a
montre unfruit, quim'etait devenuetranger, etellem'arendula vuede ce
fruit.Ellemel'a lu,avecsa voixhumide ettendre, elle
ellel'a appel6:laranja,
jusqu'Amalangue,etj'airetrouve
l'a traduit, le gofit
de l'orange perdue,j'ai
recompris l'orange. (53)
In the above passage, there is only one instance of deliberate
mistranslation: the Portugueselaranjais, as SharonWillis puts it,further
"differed/deferred" in Spanish naranja.Therewould be nothingremark-
able about it,exceptforthe factthat,althoughsimilarlyspelled, the two
words differphoneticallyto a quite significantdegree as, respectively,
[lar~3a] and [naranxa].This is hardlya shocker,a disappointedreader
mightjustifiablysay, but in a textwhere "the significanceof the voice
cannotbe overemphasized,"a textwhich "abounds in referencesto the
tongue,the voice, ears, and hearing,"whose "organs of speech and of
listeningare turnedinwardsand outwards,while the voice of the muse-
motherClarice becomes the milk-inkof the daughter'swriting"(Aneja
199), is it not, in such a text,a rathertellingfactthatthe Spanish/Por-
tuguese interplayis made to relyon a mirroring of dead (written)signs,
which no longer communicateso closely when theyare spoken? Once
again, Portuguese,thelanguage of Lispector'swritings,comes to lifeonly
when it is juxtaposed with French (as in laranjafl'orange, or
[lard3a]/[lord3e]),but does not receivea fullyautonomousstanding:its
dialogue with Spanish is (froma Cixousian standpoint,whichprivileges
orality)an exchangebetweencorpses.5
Why should it matterthatthe Cixous-LispectorFrench/Portuguese
textualcommunicationis assimilated,in Vivrel'orangelTo LivetheOrange,

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50 AnnaKlobucka

into a French/English dialogue,Lispector'slanguageretaining onlya

tokenpresencein whatpurports to be a praiseand interpretation ofher
works?Whatrulesoffairness oraccuracy canbe evokedinaddressing this
text,so happilyinsolent,so defiantly un-Law-ful? Whataboutpoetic
license,aboutbeing"carried offbythepoeticword"(Conley152)?To these
doubtsI can onlyrespondby evokinganothertextwhich,likea faithful
apprentice, followsthe interlinguistic patternestablishedby Cixous's
essay,eventhoughitspeaksina verydifferent voice:a voicebelonging to
academicdiscourse, relying on a that
system pays closeattention to no-
tionsofproperty and propriety, as exemplified by copyright, manualsof
style,ortheobligation toaccurately creditone'ssources.
CarolArmbruster's article"HMlne-Clarice: nouvellevoix"intwoim-
portant respects can be said to resemble Vivre l'orange/To LivetheOrange.
First,itis a readingoftwonovelsbyLispector, A paixaosegundo G.H.and
Agua viva, the
through prism of ideas about &criture fiminine espousedby
Cixous.Second,as itstitlealreadyindicates, itretainsthroughout a bilin-
gual,French-English identity, inwhichLispector's worksarequotedfrom
exclusively in French(with accompanying English translations),whilethe
critic'sown discourseis carriedout in English.6 Armbruster nevercom-
mentson herprivileging of Frenchin thosequotations, overeitherthe
Portugueseoriginalor the Englishtranslations of Lispector(whose
availability she mentions in a footnote). In another footnoteshedoes,how-
ever,emphasizethat"therehas beensomequestioning oftheaccuracyof
theFrenchtranslations fromthePortuguese. In Cixous'sseminars, dis-
crepancies are corrected." (She also adds that, as a guest in some of the
seminars, shehasbenefitted from thosecorrections, andhasreliedonthem
in her article[148n7]).We are thusgivento understand thatCixous's
Frenchtranslations and interpretations of Lispectorare perhapseven
closertothe"original" thantheoriginalis toitself(similarly, Lispector as
a writercomesthrough as more"Cixousian"than"Lispectorian"). This
perception is reinforced by the close attention Armbruster pays the
to
nuancesofmeaning thattheFrench versions display, never even bothering
to referto thePortuguese: "She[thenarrator ofAguaviva]claimsonlyto
'parlerde la forcedu corpsdansles eaux du monde',and she asksus to
'capte[r]cetteautrechosedonten v6rit6 je parle,carmoi-meme je ne le
peux"';in theaccompanying footnote, Armbruster explainsthat"capter in
Frenchimpliesobtaining thingsthrough underhanded methods. In refer-
encetowateritimpliescollecting waterat thesource,at thehead-springs"
(150).

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CixousandLispector 51

In thecontextofsuchdisregard forLispector's
non-Cixousian linguis-
ticand substantiveautonomy, it is highlyironicthatArmbruster should
praise theBrazilianwriter's to
ability approach Otherness in a spiritof
cautiousandrespectful "Her
inquiry: writing receives
theother in itsliving
totalityand attempts
torelateitslifeand fullnessthrough a languagethat
callsandnamesitwithout possessing ordominating it,without transform-
ing itin any way,and without itsdifference"
denying (151;myemphasis).By
readingofLispector,
Ambruster's
contrast, itselfimplicitly
modelling on
the French-English
dualityof Vivrel'orange/To
Live theOrange,ends up
perpetuatingwhatNancyK. Millerhas termed"theold Franco-American
gameofbinaryoppositions" (18).Whilereaching work
outto Lispector's
seemsto respondto Miller'sexhortation
"tolookelsewhere, beyondthe
inevitablemetropolitan for
references, differentlocation and material,
beyondtheexclusions ofanother,feminist'alreadyread"'(21),thetreat-
mentaccordedto her writingmakesthatinclusioncontingent on the
Brazilianwriter's
becoming assimilated
to the modelscreated the
by very
"metropolitan"voicewhichfindsinhera sourceofitsownrenewal.

How toWritetheOther:Lispector's
TheHouroftheStar

As I havealreadyimplied,
themainpointofthematic correspondence
betweenLispector andCixousis thealmostobsessivelyexploreddilemma
of approaching, to,and interpreting
relating theOther.Lispector'smost
extraordinaryachievementinthis is
respect her novel
penultimate (and the
last one publishedbeforeherdeath),A horada estrela(TheHouroftheStar).
In thismetafictionalwork,a malewriter/narrator namedRodrigoS.M.
discusseshiscreationofa femaleprotagonist,Macabea.7Thewriter Clarice
Lispector also includes "herself"in the discourseof the novel: "The
Author'sDedication"carriesa parenthetical subtitle"(in truthClarice
Lispector)."Thisis a very"Lispectorian"touch;as MartaPeixotonotes,
"fromthemidsixties references
on,autobiographical frequently intrudein
Lispector's fictional
narratives,disrupting systematicallythe fictional
pretensewithwhatwe mightcallautobiographical pretense." Peixotothen
goes on to comment on "theequivocalcross-gender connection between
Lispectorand hermale narrator":
Shegiveshima masculine hegiveshermaleblood:'mybloodofa
identity;
maninhisprime'.Theauthoris a womanwhoassumesa malemaskand
thenarrator
themaskofa femaleauthor.
(193)

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52 Anna Klobucka

We mightadd thatthemale narratorappears to remainunawareofbeing

written(by a woman, no less), and is oftenmade the object of ironic
manipulation by the implied author. However, this is no conclusive
evidence as to who, in theend, gets to be on top: thenarrator,in his turn,
ridiculeswomen writers,sayingthatMacabea's storyhas to be writtenby
a man, since "a woman would just meltintotears"(14). As Peixotocom-
ments,"with irony,Lispectorat once curiouslyrejectsand endorses the
culturalmythof thesentimental womanwriter"(194). In addition,Rodrigo
S.M.'s self-consciousasides oftenseem to allude to a cliche view of
"feminineliterature,"as when this sophisticatedwritercondescends to
"attempt,contrary to mynormalmethod,to writea storywitha beginning,
a middle,and a 'grandfinale'followedby silenceand fallingrain" (13); or
when he announcesthatthestorywill be "accompaniedthroughout by the
plangenttonesof a violin" (23). To complicatematterseven further, most
of those asides are pronouncedby Rodrigo S.M. withouta clear ironic
intent,but ratheras an indicationof his earnestendeavor to succeed in
compassionately telling the story of an utterly victimized female
protagonist:"In writingthisstory,I shallbecomemoresensitive... I'm not
an intellectual,I writewith my body. And what I writeis like a humid
mist" (16). The ironicwink arriveshere fromthe point of view of the
implied author ("in truth,Clarice Lispector"),as it does again when the
narratordeclaresthatin orderto become fullyabsorbedin thecreationof
his protagonist,he "had to give up sex and soccer" (22). Further,some of
the narrator'scommentsare clear parodic referencesto earliernovels by
Lispectorand to theirfemalenarrators.WorkslikeAgua vivaand A paixfo
segundoG.H. appear, forexample,to be the objectof the followingself-
parody:
A acqiodestahist6ria
tericomoresultado
minhatransfigura?Ao emoutrem
e minhamaterializagqo
enfim
emobjeto.Sim,e talvezalcancea flautadoce
emque eu meenovelareiemmaciocip6(26).
Theactionofthisstory inmytransfiguration
willresult intoanother andin
myultimatematerializationintoan object.Yes, and perhapsI'll even
achievethesweetflutemusicandbecomeentwined in a softcreeper
vine
(20).

RodrigoS.M.'s expectationsseem to modelthemselveshereon themystical

quests undertakenby the narratorsof Lispector'snovels: G.H.'s book-
lengthclose encounterwithotherness,as representedby a dead cockroach,
or the intenselylyricalmeditationof the nameless voice narratingAgua
viva. The epiphanies of self-fulfilment,
in which both novels climax,be-

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Cixous and Lispector 53

come ironically(and tragically)mirroredin the conclusionof TheHourof

theStar,where such self-fulfilment(or a self-consciousrealizationof its
impossibility) is achieved through the protagonist's death-and the
narrator'sremainingalive:
Deathis an encounter withself.Laid outand dead,Macab6alookedas
imposing as a deadhorse.Thebestthingis stillthefollowing:
nottodie,for
todieis notenough.Itfailstoachievemygreatest need:self-fulfilment...
(85)8
In short,Lispectorappears to ask her readers (as well as herself)the
followingquestion:What happens when a lyricallyself-centered explora-
tionof "Otherness"no longerrefersitselfto a disembodied "you" (as in
Agua viva),or to the objectifiedrealityof a squashed bug's remains,but
ratheris made to depend on its complicitousinvolvementin thenarrative
victimization of a fullydeveloped humanprotagonist?
It is easy fora readerto become so engrossedin the mappingof the
metafictional patternsat workin TheHouroftheStar,as to denyattention
to the truestarof thisslim,ninety-pagenovella.And thatis why Rodrigo
S.M. reminds us that,while he, as Macabea's author,has the rightto
remain"devastatingly cold" (13),thereaderis denied thisprivilege,and is
made to become personally-and painfully-involved in the story of
Macabea's lifeand death: "Let myreaderstakea punchin thestomachto
see how theyenjoyit.Lifeis a punchin thestomach"(82-3).The readeris
forcedto assume complicitywiththenarrator'sclass-determined pointof
view ("I am a man who has moremoneythanthosewho go hungry,which
in a certainway makes me dishonest"[181),and to share in the guilty
consciencewithwhichhe confronts Macab6a and otherhave-nots:
Se o leitorpossuialgumariquezae vidabemacomodada, de si para
sairai
vercomo6 Asvezeso outro.Se 6pobre,naoestaramelendoporqueler-me
6 superfluo paraquemtemumalevefomepermanente. Faqoaquio papel
de vossavalvulade escapee da vidamassacranteda mediaburguesia. Bem
sei que e assustadorsairde si mesmo,mas tudoo que 6 novoassusta.
Emboraa moqaan6nimada hist6ria seja tao antigaque podiaseruma
figura biblica.(38)
Ifthereaderis financially
secureandenjoysthecomforts oflife,he canbe
expectedtostepoutofhimself sometimes, andseewhattheothers arelike.
Ifheis poor,hewillnotbereading this,becausereading meis superfluous
foranyonewhois permanently possessedbya mildsensation ofhunger. I
am actinghereas an escapevalveforyourstupefying middleclassexist-
ence.Ofcourseitis scarytostepoutofoneself, butthen, all thatis newcan
bescary.Although,infact,theanonymous girlofthisstoryisso ancient she
couldevenbe a biblical
figure(30).9

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54 AnnaKlobucka

The reader'sinvolvementis thusachievedboththroughthenarrator's

directappealand through
irony,a powerful as well
device"forexcluding
as WayneBoothputsit:
as forincluding,"
Whenever an authorconveys tohisreaderan unspoken hecreates
point, a
senseofcollusion
againstallthose,
whether inthestory
oroutofit,whodo
notgetthatpoint.(...) Theauthorand readeraresecretlyin collusion,
behindthespeaker's
back,agreeing uponthe standard
by heisfound
which
wanting.(304)
the
While,inTheHouroftheStar,theonethusexcludedgetstobe,byturns,
empiricalwoman writerand the male narrator,the reader is alwaysin-
volved,sincetheironicalshotsfrombothsides demandherinvolvement in
orderto be properlyappreciated.And,should thepointbe missedand the
ironyfailto elicitresponse,directpromptingfromRodrigoS.M. does not
allow the reader to bypass "providingmaturemoraljudgement"which,
again accordingto Booth,can be "one ofthemostrewardingofall reading
experiences"(307).1o
So who is Macabea, and how is her storyto be judged? While the
second question may well be ultimatelyimpossibleto answer in an un-
equivocal manner,the firstone seems almosttoo easy. Macabea, to quote
her one and onlyself-definition, is "a typistand a virgin"who likes coca-
cola (35). She is a nativeof theBrazilianNortheastern sertifo, "a
or interior,
in
region that its torturedlandscape and harsh of
reality droughts and
severe economic ills, has attractedthe imaginationof many Brazilian
writers"(Peixoto 191). Her arrivalin Rio de Janeirois an epitomeof the
convergenceof two distinctsocial realities,two different human currents:
the"privileged (59) and the"resistant
Southerners" raceof
and stubborn
dwarfswho would one day vindicatetherightto cryout in protest"(79).
This is how RodrigoS.M. definesMacabea's stock,even as theprotagonist
herselfis, by his own narrativedesign,beingknockeddown and killedby
a luxuriousyellow Mercedes.Clearly,TheHour oftheStaris no place for
facilesocialistrealism,as proven,at anotherpoint,by Macabea's reaction
to thetitleofDostoevski'sTheInsultedand theInjured:
Ficoupensativa. vezse definido
Talveztivessepelaprimeira numaclasse
social.Pensou,pensoue pensou!ChegouA conclusdo que na verdade
ninguem jamaisa ofendera,
tudoque aconteciaeraporqueas coisassao
assimmesmoe nAohavialutapossivel, paraquelutar?(50).
Sheremained timeshehadestablished
pensive.Perhapsfortheveryfirst
hersocialclass.Shethought,
andthought,andthought!Shedecidedthatno
onehadeverreallyinsulted werethewaytheywere,andthere
her,things
wasnopointinstruggling, whyshouldshestruggle?(40).

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Cixous and Lispector 55

Macabea is treatedwith unremitting crueltyby almosteverybodyin the

book (even thosewho also pityher),includingherboyfriend Olimpicoand
the narrator.Olimpico's distasteforMacabea (at one pointhe says she is
"likea hairin one's soup" [60]) can at leastbe moreor less easilymotivated
and accounted for (afterall he is only a character);the narrator'sown
disgustis moredifficult to handle,provokingmuchanxioussoul-searching
and numeroustroubledcomments:
Haos que tem.E haos quenio tem.E muitosimples:
a moqaniotinha.
Nao
V apenasissomesmo:niotinha.Se derparameentenderem,
tinhao qua?
bem.Se nio,tambem
estAi estibem.Masporquetratodessamoqaquandoo
que mais e
desejo trigopuramentemaduroe ouronoestio?(32).
Thereare thosewhohave.Andthereare thosewhohavenot.It'svery
simple:thegirlhadnot.Hadn'twhat?Just this:shehadnot.Ifyougetmy
meaning, fine.Ifnot,fineas well.Butwhyam I botheringwiththisgirl
whenwhatI reallyyearnforis thewheatturning pure,ripeandgoldenin
summer? (25)
The above confessionofRodrigoS.M.'s truedesireallows me to finally
bringin again the by-nowalmostforgotten Cixous. For the ripe,golden
wheatthatMacabea's creatorwould ratherdreamand writeabout,instead
ofbeingstuckwithhis unwholesomeprotagonist, also plays theroleofyet
anotherof those threadsof semanticand symbolicmeaningwhich guide
and supportCixous's approach to Lispector.Its origincan be tracedto a
passage in a shortstory"Tantamansiddo"("Such gentleness")morethan
once quoted by Cixous in her writings.It also appears in the essay "L'-
Auteuren verit6,"a commentary at once brilliantly
insightful and distress-
inglyfallaciouson TheHouroftheStar(includedin thevolume L'Heurede
Clarice
Lispector):
Apenasisto:chovee estouvendoa chuva.Que simplicidade. Nuncapensei
que o mundoe eu chegissemos a esse pontode trigo.A chuvacai nio
porqueestiprecisando de mim,e eu olhoa chuvanaoporquepreciso dela.
Masn6sestamostiojuntascomoaguada chuvaestiligadaAchuva.(154)

Onlythis:itrains,and I watchtherain.Whatsimplicity. I neverthought

thattheworldand I wouldreachthispointofwheat.Therainfalls,not
becauseitneedsme,andI lookattherainnotbecauseI needit.Butweare
as unitedas thewateroftherainis totherain.(161)11
The "pointof wheat" (in Cixous's French,"ce pointde bl") is thesite
of joyous union between the femalespeaker of Lispector'stextand the
equally femalerain (a chuva/lapluie),thesite wherea dialogue is indistin-
guishable from a monologue, and where,in fact,theveryneed forsuch a
distinctionis denied: it is where "our lips speak together"(Irigaray).

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56 Anna Klobucka

Lispector'scapacityforcreatingsuch discoursein turnbecomesthe"point

of wheat" between her work and Cixous's own, and is the thememost
oftendealt with and emphasized in the Frenchwriter'scommentariesof
Lispector.Yet, in The Hour oftheStar,thereis no place forthe unques-
tioned,purebliss ofsuch communion,a factwhichCixous dulynotesand,
in doing so, comes to an interesting
conclusion:
Commeil doitetrepoignant le ravede l'auteurqui veutaimerunefemme
d'extremement pros,aimerenellesonessence, jouirenellede sa f~minit6,
qui veutlirele livrede la chairqui ne mentpas,ne se gardepas,n'a pas
commence~ raconter unehistoire. Ce qu'unauteurfemme peutfaireplus
facilementqu'unauteurhomme.
Oui,maisil peutarriverqu'unauteur, unefemme, soittropproched'une
femme pouren fairela connaissance,c'est-A-dire
pourla decouvririncon-
nue.Etque,parfamiliarit6, ellela manque.Que faire?Le tourde monde
pourrefaireuneentreede l'autrec6tWentantqu'etranger.
RentreRodrigoS.M. pour mieuxne pas connaltre et puis connaitre
Macabia.(162)

Accordingto Cixous, RodrigoS.M. is thus broughtin as somethingof a

prop,meantto enliventhesomewhatstaleatmosphereofthegynaeceum, to
make once again excitinglyunfamiliarand provocativethat which has
become all too familiarand hence,paradoxically,unknowable.This ap-
pears to be a rathershockingmisreadingof thenarrativedynamicat work
in The Hour of the Star. Whatever psychological reasons could have
promptedLispector'sinventionof RodrigoS.M., itis clearthattherolehis
characterplays in the novel greatlysurpasses the accessoryfunctionac-
corded to him in Cixous's reading.Rodrigoneverrelinquishesnarrative
control;it is his voice thatspeaks in theautobiographicalpreface(Peixoto
193); and he also declareshimselfto be the authorof the novel's thirteen
alternativetitles("I blame myself,as I explainedin one ofmy titlesforthis
book" [38]). "Clarice Lispector,"on theotherhand, on just two occasions
discreetlyintervenesin TheHouroftheStar:once, when her handwritten
signatureappears among the said titles,and again, in the parenthetical
subtitleto the "Author'sDedication"-"in truthClarice Lispector."While
this double gesture,as powerfulas it is discreet,sufficesto undermine
RodrigoS.M.'s exclusiveclaimto theauthorialsovereignty, thusproviding
an explicitbasis fortheimpliedauthor'sfrequentironicalinterventions, it
does nothingto changethenarrator's(and hence also Clarice Lispector's)
relationshipto Macabea. The storyof the hapless protagonist'slife and
death is Rodrigo's uncontestedmonopoly,never impingedupon by any
othernarrativeagent,and it is difficult to acceptthattheircat-and-mouse

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CixousandLispector 57

textualgamemightbe interpreted (theway it is by H6l1neCixous)as a

mere self-distancing ploy on Lispector'spart,a device safeguarding
againstpotentialexcesses of inherently"feminine" compassionand em-
pathy.
Cixous'sreadingcould,however, suggestan interpretationofherper-
sonalviewofTheHouroftheStarin thelargercontext ofherintertextual
dialoguewithLispector. If,as Suleimantellsus,Cixous'sdiscovery ofthis
novelmadehernotonlyrereadonceagainLispector's previousworks, but
also reread,andrewrite,severalofherown(xv),itbecomespossibletosee
in TheHouroftheStarpreciselythekindof defamiliarizing devicethat
CixousfindsinRodrigoS.M.'sdisrupting ofthepotentially excessiveclose-
nessbetweenLispector andherprotagonist Macabba.Andso thewindow
onceagainturnsintoa mirror, theradicalotherness narrative
ofLispector's
experiment inTheHouroftheStarbecoming assimilated intothemosaic(or
is it a meltingpot?) of Cixousianpoeticimagination. The one who is
virtuallyexcludedfrom such a readingofthe novel is Macabea the
herself,
inassimilableother,and,inCixous'sessay,theobjectofperhapsthemost
troubling misreadingofall:
ou quandellego,te,pourla
un desirou un appetit,
Quandelledecouvre
foisde sa vie,unaliment
premiere quipournousestdevenule moins
le ordinaire
all4chant,plus des c'est
mets, elle
pour d6couverte
etmerveille
Etson6merveillement
extraordinaires. nousrendlesdelicatesses
perdues.
Etnepas jeterla bouteille
de plastique,
c'estpr&cieux
(130).
WhatCixousfailstonoticehereis thatMacabeais presented as havingno
accessat all to gustatory tellsus, she "losther
pleasures;as thenarrator
appetite,she only felta greathunger"(39). Her daily fareconsistsof hot
dogs and coca-cola; her one luxuryare a few sips of cold coffeebefore
Shealsobecomesill
inthemorning.
goingtobedwhichgiveherheartburn
whenevershe decides to treatherselfto a hard-boiledegg in a snackbar:
that happens because she is then remindedof her late aunt who "had
always insistedthateggs were bad forthe liver" (33). In short,Macabea
"suffersfrompermanenthungerand equallypermanentnausea,indexesof
herpositionin a worldshe cannotincorporateand whichrefusesto accept
her" (Peixoto196).
RodrigoS.M.aliments
Bycontrast, himselfwithfresh andchilled
fruit
whitewine,pointing out (in one ofhis particularly
unselfconsciousmo-
that
ments) he has toadopt suchfrugaleatinghabitsin ordertobe ableto
"capture[MacabEa's] soul" (22). As if fulfillingthe chillingpromisecon-
tainedin his initials,heis theone who appears toregaina new appreciation
of life's"simplepleasures" throughhis sadisticdenial of themto his crea-

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58 Anna Klobucka

tureMacabba. Given thisdisparity-fruitand whitewine on theone hand,

hot dogs and coke on theother-how are we supposed to read thenovel's
finalsentences,when RodrigoS.M., havingkilledoffhis protagonistand
experiencingdiscomfort at thethoughtof his own mortality, tellshimself
(and, presumably,thereaderas well): "Don't forget, in themeantime,that
this is the season forstrawberries. Yes" (86). This cruellyforgetful, final
"yes," which erases the memory of Macabea and supplants it with a crav-
ing for strawberries,seems disturbinglyreminiscentof Molly Bloom's
"Yes" in Joyce'sUlysses,theveryword which,accordingto Cixous, is "in
thebeginningof thewomen's bible" (by theway, TheHouroftheStaralso
startswith a "yes" [1987,4]). Cixous's "yes" is similarlyspoken to/bya
fruit:as Anu Aneja puts it, "Substituting the femalevoice forthe male's,
thenarratorsof Cixous's textswatchedthe nom/non of themale transform
itselfinto the luscious oui of the orange" (190). In such perversefashion
Cixous ends up paradoxically,or perhaps appropriately,siding with
RodrigoS.M. against the irredeemableloser Macabea, her idealizationof
the protagonist's"originalinnocence"(she even collectsplastic bottles!)
representing yetanothermisreadingofLispector'scomplexity.
This readingappears to contradictqualitiesmostpraisedby Cixous's
admirers-her theoreticalacutenessin dealingwiththequestionofOther-
ness, and a respectfulopennessin approachingforeigntextsand realities.
As V.A. Conleywrites,
Withorientalechoes,shetries--especially
through affinities
withLispec-
tor-toactlesson a milieuoran object,a particularlyWesternobsession,
buttobe inharmony-or ina moment ofgrace, perhaps-with a personor
a milieu.Thisimpliesa necessarypassivityin activity,
something that,a
decade ago, mighthave been calledfemininity in contrastto a more
Western,phallicmasculinitythatproposeschangethrough violent action.
(13)
Let me expressmy dissentby quotingone last fragment froma Cixousian
"passive" reading of a novel by Lispector,a fragmentexemplifying an
interpretivestrategy that I would not hesitate to describe as textual
violence-however we mightdecide to genderit:
Thisis thepathI takeinmyreadingofAguaviva.I couldhavetakenitin
anyother textby Lispector. saysthesamething
Clarice She The
everywhere.
questionofthelawcomesup everywhere.(1990,12;
myemphasis)
Failing to open her readingsto Lispector'sliterarydiversity,Cixous,
whose poetic/criticalvoice, forall its self-proclaimed
marginality, does,
afterall, enjoya privilegedposition(throughitseasilytranslatableFrench-

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Cixous and Lispector 59

ness, its Parisian centrality,throughthe appeal it holds for American

academic feminists), in effectexercisesmasteryover Lispector'stextand
name and, insteadoflookingout to herthroughtheecriture-fenetre oftheir
writings,more oftenthannot turnsthewindow into a mirrorfilledwith
theFrenchwriter'sown reflection. This is, ofcourse,a patternunderlying
many different situations of masteryand assimilation,be it the sexual
of
politics phallic sameness, symmetrically reflectedin the pseudo-dif-
ferenceof its feminineother,or the(post-)colonialexerciseof culturaland
political dominance. In addition to establishingsuch a power relation
withintheCixous-Lispectorduo, Hel"ne Cixous's dialogue withthetexts
of ClariceLispectorfailsto reachbeyondtheself-absorption of an "eigoisme
4 deux,"what PatriciaWilliams,in a different context,labels the "limited
bipolarityof relationshipthatcharacterizesso much of westernciviliza-
tion" (160).2 By contrast,Lispector'snovel TheHour oftheStar,with its
triangle of textual agents-the implied (female) author, the narrator
RodrigoS.M., and thestarprotagonistMacabea-and throughitsmetafic-
tionalforegrounding ofsubjectposition,appearsas a brilliantenactmentof
theparadox of postmodernambivalentcritique,self-consciously engaging
in theexerciseof (textual)power,even as it unmasksits own guilt-ridden
complicity.
TheOhioStateUniversity

NOTES

1. "WhenI am leftquitealone,I cease toexist. I onlyexistin dialogue"(Borelli,

48);"Nepas laisseranyonequimedonneorders" 33). Thesearehandwritten
(Borelli
notes fromLispector's notebooks,transcribedby her friendand secretaryin a
biographicalaccountpublishedafterthewriter'sdeath(mytranslation).
2. Cixous's own accountofherencounterwithLispector'stextscan be foundin
thebilingualessay,"Vivrel'orange/ToLivetheOrange"in L'HeuredeClariceLispector
(Paris:des femmes,1989).Since 1978,Cixous has constantly
dealt withtheBrazilian
bothinherwritings
writer, andinheractivity andlecturer.
as teacher ManyEnglish
ofherworkon Lispectorare available,includingtwovolumesofselected
translations
fromCixous's seminarsat theUniversitede ParisVII and at theCollege
transcripts
International
de Philosophie and Reading
(Readings withClarice bothselec-
Lispector;
tionswereedited,translated and introducedbyVerenaAldermatt Conley),as wellas
several pieces in "Comingto Writing"and OtherEssays (Cambridge:HarvardUP,
1991).
3. Cf.Cixous,commenting on "themotherwho obviouslyforall Frenchwriting
is thesea, la mer.In mylanguagewe have thegood fortuneto be able to say thatthe
motheris thesea, thismakesup a partofourimagination,
ittellsus something"(189b,
4).

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60 Anna Klobucka

4. Lispector'slifestoryin manyways parallelsCixous's own: she was bornin

theUkranianvillageofChechelnikto Jewishparentswho emigratedto Brazilwhen
she was barelytwo monthsold. Throughouther life,Lispectorwas always con-
sideredsomewhatexoticby theBrazilianadmirersof herworkand persona,critics
and journalistswaxinglyricalabout themysterious appeal of herSlavic cheekbones
and slanted"Asiatic"eyes.As forLispectorherself, she alwaystookpains to dismiss
suchcomments, insisting on herBrazilianness and agreeingto giveinterviews chiefly
in orderto explainthatshe was "nota myth,"buta "personlikeanyother"(Varin51,
35).
5. If I may ventureanotherfar-fetched remark,I would like to indicateherea
possible link to Cixous's personalnetworkof geolinguisticcorrespondences: since
Spanishrelatesto herfather's side of thefamily,itwould makesense thatLispector's
Portugueselaranjatranslates orally(phonetically)intothetheFrenchl'orange, butonly
visually(as a "dead," written sign)intotheSpanishnaranja.SaysCixous:"Mywriting
was bornin Algeriaout ofa lostcountry, ofthedead fatherand theforeignmother."
And,soon afterwards, "'Themothersings,thefatherdictates"(189b,2-4).
6. For example:'The openinglinesof [La PassionselonG.H.]: '-Je cherche,je
cherche,j'essaie de comprendre.J'essaiede donnerce que j'ai vecu . . .' reflectthe
difficulty ofbothinscribing [thenarrator's]experience in a a comprehensibleformand
sharingthatexperiencethroughlanguageso thatothersmay reliveit" (148). Or:
"The languageofAgua vivais notone of logical,rationaldiscourse.As thenarrator
tellsus on thefirstpage, 'Jesuis encorecapablede raisonnement-j'aidej* 6tudieles
mathematiquesqui sontla foliedu raisonnement-maismaintenant je veux le plas-
ma-je veuxme nourrirdirectement du placenta"(149).
7. My quotationsfromthenovelwillgenerally followtheEnglishtranslation by
GiovanniPontiero(Manchester: Carcanet,1986).I have,however,modifieditsubstan-
tiallyforthesake ofaccuracy.In quotinglongerpassages,I havechosentoretainboth
thePortugueseoriginaland thetranslation.
8. It should be noted here that RogrigoS.M. comes veryclose to saying,
"Macabea,c'estmoi": "Deathis instantaneous and passes in a flash.I know,forI have
justdied withthegirl"(85).
9. It is interestingto observethat,whenthe"anonymousgirl"is finallygivena
name by thenarrator, it is thatofa "biblicalfigure."As NelsonVieiraproposes,The
HouroftheStarcan be readas "an adaptationoftheapocryphalstoryoftheMaccabees
to the contemporary world,representedby the cityof Rio de Janeiro,whereits
protagonistMacabea, a poor Northeasterner, becomes the symbolof the biblical
zealots" (207; my translation).Curiouslyenough,Hilkne Cixous,interestedas she
has been in developingthe themeof the "Jewoman," has never,to my knowledge,
remarkedupon this fascinatingdetail of Lispector'snovel. The significanceof
Macabea's nameis particularly emphasizedbyitsbeingcontrasted withthenamesof
herboyfriend and ofthewomanforwhomhe ultimately dumpsMacabea:respective-
ly,Olimpicode Jesusand G16ria.
10. I will followheretheexamplesetby TheHouroftheStar,and back up my
own ironicalmanipulationofgenderedpersonalpronounswithan explicitcomment.
SinceWayneBooth'sall-maleassemblyofauthors,readersand speakerscan be said
to performan exclusionarygesturetowardfemalereaders,speakers,or authors,my
positingoftheactualreaderas female(whilenotnecessarilycalled forby Lispector's
text)is meantto exposeand undermineBooth'sbias withoutdenyingthesubstantive
usefulnessofhis argumentation.

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Cixous and Lispector 61

11. I am quotingtheEnglishtranslation fromthevolumeSoulstorm (New York:

New Directions,1989). It is curiousto notethatthetranslator, AlexisLevitin,omits
theword "wheat"fromhis versionoftherespectivesentence,whichbecomessimply
"I neverthoughtthattheworldand I wouldreachthispoint."
12. In Williams'sanalysis,concerning thedistribution
oflegal rightsand struc-
tureofcontracts, "6goismeAdeux" refersto theexclusionary of "linear,dual-
effects
isticallyreciprocal encounters," such as, in the
my interpretation, relationship
betweenCixous and Lispector(as construedby Cixous),or thepresumedcloseness
betweenClariceand Macabea at thebasis of thenarrativedesignof TheHourofthe
Star. An alternativestructure wouldbe thatofa "giftrelationship," involvinga larger
communitywhose wealthcirculatesin a constantprocessof give-and-take ("So all
have it,even thoughtheydo not possess it and even thoughtheydo not own it").
Such a relationship,withall itsdifficulties
and potentialpitfalls,appearsto havebeen
tentatively stagedin Lispector'snovel,withinitsdiscursive"community" offictional
and metafictional characters (includingtheencoded readers).

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