Clarice Lispector : Hour of the Star
by kenwardt
This week’s reading was drastically shorter than 100 Years of Solitude, but it did come with a price. Although it was short, it did take me quite a bit of time to finish the book as it was filled with metaphors and vivid imagery through the eyes of Macacbéa.
I enjoyed the beginning sentence of the book, “all the world began with a yes. One molecule said yes to another molecule and life was born”. I watched the lecture before reading the book so I can appreciate where Clarice wanted to start off from. It does seem tricky to identify where exactly to start the book, so why not start it from the beginning of time!
It took a while for Clarice to start talking about Macabéa but when she did, a recurring theme that I noticed was the prominent social injustice occurring to Macabéa. First off, she has terrible taste, and Olímpico is not what she needs. His values align with the majority of society at the time, and all he wants is to be upper class, which was clear in the choice of his new fling Gloria, who was white and had blond hair. Even though he came from humble beginnings like Macabéa, all he wanted was someone who looked ‘luxurious.’ I guess we all want what we do not have.
Macabéas life was far from extraordinary, but it portrayed a simple life that had its fair share of spectacular sprinkled in.
Throughout the story the narrator’s voice was prominent and at times I wanted to just know what happened next, especially when Macabéa was laying on the floor after being hit by the car and the narrator had the audacity to ask if the story should just end there. Macabéa’s death was sudden, and just like how the world began with a yes, Macabéas life ended with a yes. Macabéa had her hour of the star, although she didn’t get to meet the man of her dreams who was blond and rich. Maybe for good reason, as he could have ended up being just like Olímpico.
My question to you all this week is: did you enjoy having the narrator’s voices and opinions throughout the story? Or would you have rather appreciated a more linear and straightforward story of Macabéa?
*While looking for an online pdf. of the story, I found out that Clarice Lispector died shortly after writing the story, so she had her hour of the star moment.
“Macabeas life was far from extraordinary, but it portrayed a simple life that had its fair share of spectacular sprinkled in.” We find some characters like this in many of Lispector’s stories, and that can be difficult on a first reading because it presents us with another way of conceiving fiction, since it implies creating a new way of narrating and, consequently, another type of narrator. I am glad to know that the lectures have given you clues to ask the text your own questions.
Hello! Thank you for the great post! I also really enjoyed the opening line of this story as it really drew me in and intrigued me from the very first line. To answer your question, while I found the narration a bit annoying at times, similar to what you said, I actually quite enjoy the unique approach to the writing. Having the narrator’s voice and commentary within the book created somewhat of a story within a story and brought new perspectives into how one may view another’s life. Thanks again for the great post!
– Mandy M.