These things of life and death, these reasons: A comparative study of the distress in "Água Viva", by Clarice Lispector and "A Obscena Senhora D", by Hilda Hilst

• Grant number: 24/00246-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: July 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Brazilian Literature
• Principal Investigator: Yudith Rosenbaum
• Grantee: Eva Degasperi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research will analyze the novels Água Viva by Clarice Lispector and A Obscena Senhora D by Hilda Hilst, focusing on the different approaches of the distress situations experienced by the protagonists in these works. The aim is to demonstrate, in each author, the construction of language procedures that express their respective experiences of distress, identifying in Clarice's case, an emphasis on life, and in Hilst's case, an accent on death, by examining how these narratives unfold. To reach this goal, a comparative analysis will be conducted on the thematic-stylistic aspects of the characters' relationships with the alterity, with God, and with themselves. The analysis will be based on the authors' own works, as well as in the critical studies about them such as CABIDE, 2021; MORAES, 1999; PÉCORA, 2001; ROSENBAUM, 2006, and theoretical texts on distress as a psychological, social, and literary issue, including FREUD, 2020; PEREIRA, 1999; ROSENFELD, 1973. The historical proximity of the writers will allow considerations of contextual factors that contribute to some affinities between them, but the study will primarily focus on the singularities that distinguish each author regarding the central theme.