![]() ![]() “ Whoever can stop reasoning – which is terribly difficult – let them come along with me.” “ I may not have meaning, but it is the same lack of meaning the pulsing vein has.” “The mother licks the sack of fluid so many times that it finally breaks and there a kitten almost free, only attached by its umbilical cord.” Reason alone cannot explain how birth takes place. One of the most striking images in ‘Agua Viva’ is of a female cat giving birth to kittens. And when I think life is strange that’s where life begins.” And when I think a word is strange that’s when it achieves its meaning. “ When I think a painting is strange that’s when it’s a painting. “ I’m after whatever is lurking beyond thought.” “ What is this that I am writing? As far as I know I never saw anybody write like this.” ![]() ![]() Rather than to stick ‘Agua Viva’ with any sort of review, I am instead going to quote fragments that were particularly meaningful to me. But the fragments are deeper and make more visceral sense than most writers’ complete thoughts.Īlthough ‘Agua Viva’ takes the form of a novella, it is probably more helpful to approach it as a poem or a chant. If ‘Agua Viva’ made complete sense to someone, I would worry about that person. I expect there are many readers of it who have only a fragmentary understanding of what they have just read. My understanding of it is fragmentary, but, wow, the sentences. Agua Viva’ by Clarice Lispector (1973) – 88 pages Translated from the Portuguese by Stefan Tobler ![]()
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