The relatioship between people and animals in the short stories of "A legião estrangeira" by Clarice Lispector

Abstract

This essay approaches three short stories in A legião estrangeira, by Clarice Lispector: “Macacos”, “Tentação”, and “A legião estrangeira”. My goal is to discuss how the depiction of animals plays an important role in Lispector’s works. Animals trigger twists in the emotional composition of human characters in the stories. Also, they are frequently involved in ethical issues concerned in the relationship between subject and otherness in Lispector’s fiction. First in the essay, there is a questioning about Hélène Cixous’ reception of Lispectorian work, especially in the matter of limits implied in the relationships between the “I” and “the other” in the essays “Clarice Lispector: The Approach” and “Reaching the Point of Wheat, or A Portrait of the Artist as a Maturing Woman”. Next, the essay recurs to the critics Marta Peixoto and Anna Klobucka in order to understand Cixous’ reception of Lispector. Finally, it focuses on three of the short stories from the 1964 selection.