Student:

BEFORE READING

1. Tale a look at the definition below and discuss in groups:

Brazilian literature
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brazilian literature is the literature written in the Portuguese language by Brazilians or in Brazil, including works written prior to the country's independence
in 1822. Throughout its early years, literature from Brazil followed the literary trends of Portugal, whereas gradually shifting to a different and authentic
writing style in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, in the search for truly Brazilian themes and use of Brazilian forms.
from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_literature

a. What is Brazilian literature for you?

( ) literature from Brazilian authors ( ) literature made in Brazil ( ) Brazilian-related content ( ) literature in Brazilian Portuguese

( ) Other:

b. What important figures of Brazilian literature do you know?

c. Where do you usually look for information when you want to know something about them?
d. What’s the importance of getting to know these figures?

2. Before reading the text below, discuss the following questions:

a. What are the characteristics of a biography?

b. What do you expect to find in this type of text? Discuss the possibilities below and add some more possibilities, if possible.
( ) favorite food ( ) full name ( ) address ( ) parent´s name

( ) favorite song ( ) telephone number ( ) hobbies ( ) nationality

( ) appearance ( ) account number ( ) age ( ) birth date

3. Below, we will read Clarice Lispector’s biography. What do you know about her? What do you expect to learn about her?

READING

1. Read the biography of Clarice Lispector and relate the highlighted words in the box to their respective concepts:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clarice Lispector (born Chaya Pinkhasivna Lispector;; December 10, 1920 – December 9,
1977) was a Ukrainian-born Brazilian novelist and short story writer acclaimed internationally for her
innovative novels and short stories. Born to a Jewish family in Podolia in Western Ukraine, as an
infant she moved to Brazil with her family, amidst the disasters engulfing her native land following the
First World War.

She grew up in Recife, the capital of the northeastern state of Pernambuco, where her mother
died when she was nine. The family moved to Rio de Janeiro when she was in her teens. While in law
school in Rio, she began publishing her first journalistic work and short stories, catapulting to fame at
the age of 23 with the publication of her first novel, Near to the Wild Heart (Perto do Coração
Selvagem), written as an interior monologue in a style and language that was considered
revolutionary in Brazil.

She left Brazil in 1944, following her marriage to a Brazilian diplomat, and spent the next decade
and a half in Europe and the United States. After returning to Rio de Janeiro in 1959, she began
producing her most famous works, including the stories of Family Ties (Laços de Família), the great
mystic novel The Passion According to G.H. (A Paixão Segundo G.H.), and what is arguably her
masterpiece, Água Viva. Injured in an accident in 1966, she spent the last decade of her life in
frequent pain, steadily writing and publishing novels and stories until her premature death in 1977.

She has been the subject of numerous books, and references to her and her work are common in
Brazilian literature and music. Several of her works have been turned into films. In 2009, the
American writer Benjamin Moser published Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector. Since
that publication, her works have been the object of an extensive project of retranslation, published by
New Directions Publishing and Penguin Modern Classics, the first Brazilian to enter that prestigious
series. Moser, who is also the editor of her anthology The Complete Stories (2015), describes
[1]
Lispector as the most important Jewish writer in the world since Kafka.
from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarice_Lispector

NOVEL PAIN MASTERPIECE STYLE CHILDHOOD

 a. Physical or emotional discomfort, which can be caused after a trauma or accident: ____________ .

b. Literary genre, based on real facts or fiction, which narrates a story and may involve different characters: ______________.

c. The most remarkable work of a writer or an artist: _________________.

d. Period of human life from birth to early adolescence: ________________.

e. Set of characteristics and personal resources of the author that give uniqueness to the work: ______________.

💡 How are these words relevant to Lispector’s bio?

2. Now discuss the text below about the text:

a. Where was Clarice born?

b. Clarice had another name when she was born. What was her name before that?

c. Why do you think her name was changed?

d. Why did she have to leave the country where she was born?

e. Do you think this change has affected Clarice’s identity? Why (not)? If so, how?

f. Why can she be considered an important Brazilian author?

3. Observe the highlighted verbs in the text and answer the questions below

a. Do verbs indicate events that are still happening or already over?

b. Considering the previous answer, in which verbal tense are they?

c. Which of these verbs are regular? Why?

d. Which of these verbs are irregular? Why?

AFTER READING

a. What is the importance of a biography for Clarice?

b. Do you admire her? Why(not)?

c. What is the importance of Lispector for Brazilian literature?

d. Explore Clarice Lispector’s biography in groups and write a small text about her relevance for Brazilian literature.