"The answer is yes, but there is nothing wrong with having an oblique heart, it is a lighthouse, a compass, wisdom, sharp instinct, experience of death, the power to divine a disquieting but blissful lack of adjustment, because I am discovering that my own maladjustment stems from my origins."
— Lispector, Clarice (1920-1977)
Work Title
Date
November 11, 1967
Metaphor
"The answer is yes, but there is nothing wrong with having an oblique heart, it is a lighthouse, a compass, wisdom, sharp instinct, experience of death, the power to divine a disquieting but blissful lack of adjustment, because I am discovering that my own maladjustment stems from my origins."
Metaphor in Context
The answer is yes, but there is nothing wrong with having an oblique heart, it is a lighthouse, a compass, wisdom, sharp instinct, experience of death, the power to divine a disquieting but blissful lack of adjustment, because I am discovering that my own maladjustment stems from my origins. For everyone knows that mosquitoes are a sign of heavy rain, that to cut my hair under a new moon will give it greater strength, to mention [End Page 11] a name I dare not utter will cause delays and great misfortune, and tying the devil with red string to the leg of a piece of furniture has at least tied up my demons. And I know in my heart -- which has never dared expose itself in the centre, and for centuries has kept well to the left under the cover of shadows -- I know full well that Man is such a stranger, even unto himself, that innocence alone makes him natural.
(pp. 11-12)
(pp. 11-12)
Categories
Provenance
Posted to facebook by Greg Camphire
Citation
Lispector, Clarice. "In Favour of Fear." Selected Cronicas. Trans. Giovannia Pontiero. New York: New Directions Publishing, 1996. Translated from A Descoberta do Mundo. Editora Nova Frontiero, 1984.
Date of Entry
08/11/2009
