XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

O Ovo e a Galinha

• In Event: New Readings of Canonical Literature I

Abstract

Clarice Lispector wrote a number of stories addressing the lives of women in relation to those of animals, and two of the most telling considered the chicken: "A Galinha" (1960), and "O Ovo e a Galinha" (1964). This presentation proposes a reading of Lispector through autofiction - which is to say, I read Lispector's fiction in the spirit of her own entreaty: "Não ler o que escrevo como se fosse um leitor. A menos que esse leitor trabalhasse, ele também, nos solilóquios do escuro irracional." Lispector's experiences of handling both eggs and chickens are linked to my (narrator's) domestic life, as her philosophical approach to the question of "the chicken and the egg" informs my (narrator's) larger understanding of the lives of women. (This paper/story is part of a larger project dedicated to the queer art of living in, through, and beside literature.)

Author

• Barbara Browning, New York University