In her new book Writing by Ear, Marília Librandi draws from the oeuvre of the wondrous Clarice Lispector, one of Brazil’s most prominent writers, to creatively articulate the relationship between orality and writing. In dialogue with philosophy, psychoanalysis, and sound studies, Librandi presents an aural theory of the novel based on readings of Near to the Wild Heart (1943), The Besieged City (1949), The Passion According to G.H. (1964), Agua Viva (1973), The Hour of the Star (1977), and A Breath of Life (1978). What is the aesthetic that listening-in-writing calls forth? Which relationship does listening-in-writing establishes with silence, echo, and the world’s sounds? How do we understand authorship when the writer presents herself as an object of reception rather than a subject of production? In which ways does Brazil’s robust oral and aural culture shape art and literature?

A book forum with Marília Librandi (Visiting Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese). Followed by a reception.