I suppose my question here is how many supernovas can one woman create? Hurricane Clarice rides again- this being her first novel and in a way provoking more questions than answers about her artistic progression.

From what I’ve read, I’d say the Wild Heart has the most in common with Hour of the Star, down to phrases, motifs, characters. Whereas Macabéa is a phenomenal portrait of a woman, I feel Joana is a more interesting character. What I’m saying is- there’s a narrative! almost a normally structured one as well.

Elizabeth Bishop mentioned somewhere that she didn’t believe Clarice to have read widely or indeed at all. I find CL shines when she roams into Western philosophy,, this book I found Spinoza loomed large. There’s a period where a spinozist term appears every couple pages in my annotations and I felt awfully proud of myself for noticing until she namedropped him. All the same I’ve never encountered a novel that achieves what this does with regards to sweet Baruch. Oology, Deus sive Natura, Bodies upon bodies. It’s beautiful though certainly an undercurrent.

She just keeps pulling bangers.

more clarice more clarice more