Clarice Lispector was only 23 when she published Near to the Wild Heart (Perto do coração selvagem). That is a terrifying thought. Most people in their early twenties are still trying to figure out how to pay rent or string together a coherent sentence about their weekend. Lispector, meanwhile, was busy dismantling the entire structure of the Brazilian novel. When it hit the shelves in 1943, it didn't just cause a stir; it felt like a physical shock to the literary system.
The book follows Joana. But saying it "follows" her is a bit of a lie. It doesn't track her life like a standard biography. Instead, it lives inside her head. It’s a messy, jagged, and profoundly beautiful exploration of a woman who refuses to be "good" in the way society expects. She is, as the title suggests, near to the wild heart of life itself.
The Shock of the New in 1940s Brazil
You have to understand what Brazil’s literary scene looked like back then. It was dominated by "Regionalism." Writers were obsessed with social issues, the droughts in the northeast, and the grit of the physical landscape. Then comes Clarice. She wasn't interested in the soil; she was interested in the soul. Or rather, the weird, dark corners of the mind that most people pretend aren't there.
Critics were baffled. Some accused her of imitating Virginia Woolf or James Joyce. Funnily enough, she hadn't even read them yet. She was just tapping into a similar vein of stream-of-consciousness because that’s how her mind actually worked. She was writing from the gut.
The title itself comes from a line in Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Her friend, the writer Lúcio Cardoso, suggested it. It fits perfectly. It captures that James Joyce-esque feeling of standing on the edge of something vast and frightening. Joana, the protagonist, isn't interested in the domestic play-acting of marriage or the polite conversations of the middle class. She wants the raw stuff.
Joana: Not Your Typical Protagonist
Joana is "difficult." We use that word a lot for women in books who don't smile enough, but Joana is genuinely unsettling. As a child, she’s almost feral. She wonders about the nature of evil. She wonders if she is "bad" because she doesn't feel the things she’s supposed to feel.
She eventually gets married to a man named Otávio. It’s a disaster, obviously. Not because he’s a monster—though he’s certainly not great—but because Joana is uncontainable. She views marriage as a sort of cage, but not just a social one. It’s an ontological cage. It’s a way of being that limits her ability to just be.
The Non-Linear Messiness of Being Alive
The book jumps around. It flickers between Joana’s childhood and her unhappy adulthood. This isn't just a stylistic gimmick. It’s how memory works. You’re washing dishes and suddenly you’re seven years old again, feeling the sting of a specific reprimand. Lispector captures that fluidity better than almost anyone else in the 20th century.
Near to the Wild Heart isn't about "what happens." It’s about "how it feels while it’s happening."
Honestly, if you’re looking for a tight plot with a satisfying resolution, stay away from this book. It will frustrate you. But if you’ve ever felt like a stranger in your own life, it might be the most important thing you ever read.
Why Near to the Wild Heart is a Philosophical Sledgehammer
Lispector was reading a lot of Spinoza and Kierkegaard around this time, even if she didn't always wear those influences on her sleeve. The book is deeply existential. It asks: How do we exist in a world that wants to label us?
Joana’s internal monologue is a constant struggle against language. She feels that words are "beads on a string," and they can’t truly capture the "it" of existence. This is a recurring theme in all of Lispector’s work, but it’s at its most raw and unrefined here.
Breaking the Silence
There is a lot of silence in this book. Not literal silence on the page, but the silence of things unsaid between characters. Joana knows that people are essentially unknowable to one another. You can sleep in the same bed as someone for years and still be total strangers. That’s a lonely thought, but for Joana, it’s also a source of freedom. If no one can truly know her, no one can truly own her.
- "I am not a person, I am a thing that observes."
- "To be is to be perceived?" No, for Joana, to be is to perceive oneself in the act of existing.
The Language of the Senses
The prose is weird. There’s no other way to put it. Lispector uses Portuguese in a way that feels like she’s translating from a language that doesn't exist. It’s clunky, rhythmic, and then suddenly, breathtakingly lyrical.
She focuses on strange details. The way a glass of water looks. The sound of a footstep. These aren't just background details; they are the center of the world. In Near to the Wild Heart, the physical world is constantly leaking into the psychological world.
Why Does This Book Still Matter in 2026?
We live in an age of "curated" identities. We have Instagram feeds and LinkedIn profiles and a million ways to tell the world exactly who we are. Joana is the antidote to that. She doesn't have a brand. She doesn't even have a stable sense of "self." She is a process.
Reading this book today is a reminder that it’s okay to be incoherent. It’s okay to feel "wild" or disconnected from the roles we’re forced to play.
A Masterclass in Intellectual Honesty
Lispector doesn't give Joana a "happily ever after." She doesn't even give her a "sadly ever after." She just leaves her in the middle of her own life, still searching, still feeling the "wild heart" beating. It’s an honest ending because life doesn't actually have endings until the very end.
How to Actually Read Clarice Lispector
If you're going to dive into Near to the Wild Heart, don't try to "solve" it. Don't take notes like you're studying for a midterm.
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- Read it fast first. Let the rhythm of the sentences wash over you. Don't worry if you lose track of the timeline.
- Pay attention to the "body" words. Notice how often Joana talks about her skin, her breath, her physical presence.
- Accept the boredom. There are parts where Joana just ruminates. That's part of the point. Being alive is often boring and repetitive.
- Read it out loud. Lispector’s Portuguese (and the excellent English translation by Alison Entrekin) is musical. You can feel the tension in the vowels.
Actionable Insights for the Modern Reader
- Embrace the "Difficult" Self: Joana teaches us that our "unpleasant" thoughts are just as valid as our pleasant ones. Stop trying to edit your inner monologue to be more "likable."
- Question Domestic Roles: Whether it’s a marriage, a job, or a social circle, ask yourself: is this a space where I can actually grow, or is it just a comfortable cage?
- Observe the Mundane: Spend five minutes today looking at a single object. Don't think about its "use." Just look at its shape, its color, its "thingness." This is the Lispector way.
- Write Without a Filter: Try a ten-minute "brain dump" without worrying about grammar or logic. See what weirdness comes out.
Clarice Lispector changed what was possible in literature by simply being herself—or rather, by exploring the terrifying difficulty of being anyone at all. Near to the Wild Heart is the document of that first, explosive discovery. It’s not an easy read, but the best things rarely are.
Pick up a copy of the New Directions version translated by Alison Entrekin. It’s the most faithful to Lispector’s strange, broken, beautiful rhythm. Read it when you’re feeling a little bit lost. It won't help you find your way back, but it might make you realize that being lost is exactly where you’re supposed to be.