An epiphanic reading of the world: event and fracture in the novel Near to the wild heart, by Clarice Lispector

Abstract

Based on the theoretical framework of Claude Zilberberg’s tensive grammar – particularly with reference to the central notion of event – as well as on the concept of fracture, conceived by A. J. Greimas, we attempted to carry out a brief study of the novel Near to the wild heart (1943), by Clarice Lispector, focusing on one of its most representative passages, whose nature allows us to investigate the development of extraordinary events that sometimes happen as abrupt, undesirable ruptures on the subject’s course, and sometimes present themselves as epiphanic moments of aesthetic contemplation of the world. We also aimed to highlight the way tensive adjustments made by the subject contribute to the regaining of discourse balance, by correcting insufficiencies and containing surpluses which result from the impact of the extraordinary event. These adjustments play a fundamental role in the restoration and maintenance of discourse progression. Lastly, we sought to demonstrate that fracture and event – usually taken as similar, though not identical, concepts, given the essentially aesthetic dimension of the former – are compared and equated in the text analyzed, providing the subject of the narrative with new knowledge of the world. This knowledge will form the very basis of the subject’s identity, thereby determining their interventions in the world and their actions over other subjects throughout the novel.