O Jogo Infinito do Texto: Lispector e a Aprendizagem do Incerto

Drawing upon the concept of rhizome as advanced by Deleuze and Guattari in their Capitalism and Schizophrenia project (1972-1980), R. Barthes’ distinction between texte lisible and texte scriptible, as well as the concept of the “instant” put forward by G. Bachelard, the present article wishes to present an in-depth analysis of Clarice Lispector’s Água Viva (1973). Being an experimental fiction which noticeably defies any easy thematic or stylistic categorization, we will argue that Lispector’s original novel presents a distinctive new type of writing, which operates through what Portuguese writer Maria Gabriela Llansol has poignantly called cenas fulgor (luminous scenes). In order to do so, we will analyse the following thematic axes: 1) the mystery of the word (the language-axis), 2) the (de)construction of the self (the subjectivity-axis), and 3) the perception of the instant (the temporality-axis).