136. Clarice Lispector - Água Viva

April 12, 2021 John Mitchinson

Like several of Lispector's remarkable novels, this slim book caused a sensation when first published in her native Brazil in 1973. Exquisitely written and daringly abstract, Água Viva stands as one of its author's masterpieces with Near to the Wild Heart (1943), Family Ties (1960), The Passion According to G.H. (1964) and The Hour of the Star (1977). Joining John and Andy to explore this truly iconic author's life and work are writers Wendy Erskine and David Keenan.

Wendy Erskine's first short story collection, Sweet Home, was published by Stinging Fly in 2018 and Picador in 2019. Her next one, Dance Move will be out in early 2022. David Keenan is the author of four novels: the cult classic This Is Memorial Device, For the Good Times (which won the Gordon Burn Prize), The Towers The Fields The Transmitters and Xstabeth. His fifth novel, Monument Maker, will be published by White Rabbit Books in August this year.

Also in this episode, John has been reading Peter Blegvad's recent book Imagine, Observe, Remember, ‘a way to look at different ways of looking and seeing’ from the wonderful Uniform Books; Andy, meanwhile, digs Excavate! The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall, a new anthology of essays, artwork and ephemera edited by Tessa Norton and Bob Stanley.

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