Entre a loucura e a lucidez: crônicas de Clarice Lispector no Jornal do Brasil

Abstract

This article approaches the territory of madness and unreason in Lispector’s fiction, an aspect of her work that is present in her press contributions “Das docuras de Deus” (16 Dec. 1967), “Sem nosso sentido humano” (28 Jun. 1969), “Loucura diferente” (8 Dec. 1970), and “Lucidez perigosa” (2 May 1972). None of these texts became an autonomous short story or novel, as happened with many others originally published in Jornal do Brasil between 1967 and 1973. This study examines these four texts with a view to grasping a Claricean poetics, as it is represented through extreme perceptions of madness and unreason. I consider these texts as pre-figurations or instances of contact with motives such as freedom, adaptation, fear and habit. The texts examined here are shown to defy hegemonic rationality while pointing to the limits of discursive language.