O discurso da felicidade em contos de Clarice Lispector

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand the method for building happiness in the short stories of Clarice Lispector. The goal is to reflect upon the question of happiness, asking whether happiness can be associated to a moment of lucidity, of self understanding, associated to an epiphany. To this investigation, the following hypothesis were considered: that happiness is written in the writing process and the paradox is one of the keys to this process; that the search for the construction of happiness reflects the union of joys and agonies of human beings, and that the happiness metaphor reveals the proceedings to reach the epiphany. The following short stories were selected to this study: Felicidade Clandestina (Clandestine Happiness) and Feliz Aniversário (Happy Birthday). The theoretical base that supports this analysis is focused on three pillars. Concerning happiness, the philosophical concepts of Aristotle and Epicurus were prioritized. As to the aesthetic effects projected by the discursive action, the references searched were Poe, Cortázar and Sant Anna. To discuss happiness and epiphany, the base used here is the studies of Olga de Sá. This paper explores in its three chapters the genesis of the happiness discourse, the structure of the claricean short story, the story analysis, the happiness dialectic, and the contradictions of beings and language that result in texts built without a happy end. Amongst other conclusions, it was found that in the process of building the happiness discourse some existential truths are revealed in fractions of seconds, and those existential truths question themselves continuously, emulating the contradictions of human beings in finding happiness with an epiphany