Feral Women, “Tame Joy”: Animality, Anthropocentrism and the Couple Form in Clarice Lispector’s An Apprenticeship or the Book of Pleasure

Abstract

The presence of animals in Brazilian author Clarice Lispector’s work is of undeniable importance. They guide the character’s thought processes, frequently leading them to profound understandings about themselves and the world that surrounds them. This thesis takes Lispector’s novel An Apprenticeship or the Book of Pleasure as an example of Lispector’s approach to being human and how she expresses this through animality. The novel’s focus on a couple’s developing relationship and the protagonist’s process of humanizing herself is explored and contextualized within the framework of zoopoetics and posthumanist thought. An additional focus of this thesis is the novel’s engagement with patriarchal ideas and feminist themes through contemplations of animality.