the besieged city is a grueling novel to read. it requires tremendous effort to get through it. and the worst thing is, we don't feel the effort was worth it. on the one hand, if a sensibility emerges that is very attentive to the free movements of lucrécia neves's subconscious, to her thoughts and feelings, we aren't given, on the other hand, an impression of overarching meaning.            (a critic wrote)


(clarice lispector wrote back)
    the struggle to reach reality- that's the main objective of this creature who tries, in every way, to cling to whatever exists by means of a total vision of things. i meant to make clear too the way vision- the way of seeing, the viewpoint- alters reality, constructing it. a house is not only constructed with stones, cement etc. a man's way of looking constructs it too. the way of looking gives the appearance of reality.

~ it was grueling, and it was worth it. and the critic did not grasp the meaning, it was too difficult to grasp. it's as full of meaning as reality, and it resonates the way trying to live in the city you didn't make, but that you must make every day, resonates. with will and mystery.