The Passion According to G. H. (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Clarice Lispector
- First Published: 1964
- Type of Plot: Philosophical realism
- Time of Work: The 1960’s
- Setting: An apartment in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Principal Characters: G. H., Janair, A cockroach, The crying man
- Genres: Long fiction, Philosophical realism
- Subjects: 1960’s, Self-discovery, Philosophy or philosophers, Brazil or Brazilians, Abortion, Servants, Sculpting or sculptors, Latin America or Latin Americans, Insects
- Locales: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Novel
Though the book is heavy with Christian allusions, especially to the Old Testament, what The Passion According to G. H. presents is a completely secular description of a spiritual rebirth. The trivial act of squashing a cockroach as she cleans her maid’s room strangely rattles the story’s narrator and leads her into a cascade of profound reflections on the scheme of things.
The book centers on a few hours in the life of the narrator, who is identified only as G. H., as she sits in her servant’s room and thinks. The bulk of the text is taken up with...
[The entire page is 2558 words long]
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