A Reading of Anguish in An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector

Abstract

This article aims to explore the expression of anguish in the novel An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector. Upon meeting Ulisses, a philosophy professor who requires her to know herself and abandon her self-anesthesia as a condition for achieving love, the protagonist, Lóri, embarks on a journey of learning. This journey will lead her to rethink her relationship with herself and the world around her. At the beginning of the novel, Lóri seeks to avoid pain at all costs, which results in her experiencing acute and intermittent anguish, portrayed through an uncomfortable, unsettling, and heavy atmosphere. Although she tries to suppress emotional expression, her body demands this release, and we witness intense physical sensations as a result. Informed by Lacanian jouissance, the anguish that overwhelms Lóri paralyzes her and places her in a state of temporal suspension. Lóri’s challenging and complex process of becoming a subject leads her to navigate between conflicting sensations and invert values upheld by common sense, freeing herself from the imprisoning position she previously occupied. This emotional state is also linked to the concept of primordial helplessness, as theorized by Freud. Faced with impotence, incompleteness, and human finitude, the protagonist is deeply troubled. Lóri's great challenge is to embrace her lack and insufficiency, drawing closer to her desires. This study, therefore, seeks to engage with psychoanalytic theories, particularly those of Freud and Lacan, to shed light on Lóri’s existential journey and the new role that anguish assumes in her relationship with herself and the world throughout the novel.