Subjectivity in exposition: Anonymity and alterity in Clarice Lispector’s Amor

Abstract

This paper aims at making a Levinasian reading of the short story Amor, by Clarice Lispector. We intend to understand the epiphany of the character Ana as a deposition event caused by a disturbance in her interested movement. The start of the tram withdraws her from an accommodated position, a position of protection at the seat, exposing her to fragility. In this event, the blind man’s face disturbs her both because of his fragility and because of his non-reciprocity for being blind. This crisis of comprehension, given by the darkness of blindness, reveals to Ana her own anonymity and helplessness in face of the neutrality of verb to be, which is pure there be, a verb without a noun. It causes her nausea and despair for an escape. At the same time, this vision of the blind opens to her a dimension of infinite responsibility with the fragility of the Other, thus bringing her in contact with an alterity that goes beyond the circuit of her sameness. Upon noticing the nudity of the blind man’s face, Ana also sees herself exposed and chosen, establishing a relationship of asymmetry.