Existentialism

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Existentialism is a philosophical approach that emphasizes individual responsibility, suggesting that life lacks inherent meaning apart from what each person attributes to it. Thinkers such as Sartre, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Jaspers, and Camus have explored various facets of this philosophy of existence, also known as ontology. They either reject the existence of God or propose that, since God does not reveal life's purpose, humanity faces the same outcome as if God were absent. Without a predetermined purpose, individuals possess complete freedom but also bear full responsibility for their actions.

This combination of life's perceived meaninglessness and ultimate responsibility leads to angst—a physical and emotional response to an unsettling truth. Life is viewed as absurd, and individuals recoil in horror from this absurdity, fearing the burden of self-creation. How does one determine how to live and shape one's identity in a world perceived as meaningless? Jean-Paul Sartre, often called the "father of existentialism," introduced the concept of self-creation as a necessary reaction to acknowledging the existence of others: "I see myself because somebody sees me." Without others to affirm one's existence, an individual's mental state remains in "unreflective consciousness," a passive condition. Awareness of others reminds individuals that the world, despite its lack of intrinsic meaning, cannot be ignored.

Being observed by others does not lead to morality, as each person must independently forge their own identity and purpose. The presence of others serves only to remind one of their own existence and the other's freedom, not of any specific moral structure. In Being and Nothingness (1943), Sartre states, "nothing, absolutely nothing, justifies me in adopting this or that particular value, this or that particular scale of values." The isolation of mutual yet disconnected co-existence is portrayed in Sartre’s novel Nausea, where a couple struggles to sustain their relationship amidst life's absurdity.

Although existentialism may seem bleak, there is a way to transcend its absurdity. Sartre describes the "man of good faith" as someone who lives responsibly, even in the absence of moral consequences. In contrast, the "man of bad faith" inflicts harm through hypocrisy, selfishness, or detachment from the world. Thus, existentialists stress the significance of making responsible choices. Another method to confront absurdity and existential nausea is through creation. In a world devoid of inherent values, the freedom to craft one's own meaning can empower those who have the courage to embrace the responsibility inherent in the creative process. The narrator of Nausea finds comfort by imagining the creation of a perfect novel, a redemptive act of creativity.

Existentialist writers are known for their focus on consciousness, aiming for self-awareness and revealing internal contradictions to achieve complete honesty. The self is always changing, necessitating ongoing reevaluation. Clarice Lispector, who admired Dostoyevsky and read Sartre, embraces this existentialist pursuit of introspection and responsibility. Her work explores the fluid nature of her characters' consciousness, smoothly shifting between thoughts without defining them strictly, using a blend of purposeful ambiguity and clarity. In the translator's introduction to Family Ties, Giovanni Pontiero observes that "Clarice Lispector shares the Sartrean conviction that we are not content to live. We need to know who we are, to understand our nature, and to express it. Her vision of reality gives identity to Being and Nothingness and satisfies the need 'to speak of that which obliges us to be silent.'"

Phenomenology

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Phenomenology is a philosophical approach that centers on psychological processes and the perception or awareness of objects in the mind. Founded by Edmund Husserl, phenomenology was intended to be a scientific discipline, granting philosophy a status comparable to psychology and mathematics. Husserl not only introduced...

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this philosophy but also outlined a method for engaging with it. Since phenomenology deals with the mental awareness of objects, it necessitates "bracketing out" any preconceptions, assumptions, or judgments about the object. The sole permissible emotional or intellectual process in phenomenology is "intention," which involves envisioning the object and empathizing with it. Consequently, the world and self are constructed through personal human consciousness. Applying a phenomenological approach to writing involves several aspects. One key aspect is the need to depict consciousness as a temporal flow, transitioning from one interaction with objects to another while merging past, present, and future. Such narratives are often first-person accounts that may seem solipsistic or self-focused. This personal viewpoint means that an individual's experiential history influences or shapes the possible "horizon of meanings" an object might evoke in the mind. Although objects and the world exist independently, they are perceived only through consciousness, rendering any description of the world and its objects inherently subjective and unique.

Clarice Lispector is frequently described as a phenomenological writer and thinker because of her emphasis on portraying the fluid nature of consciousness. She has described her writing approach as letting her thoughts flow spontaneously: "When writing I have insights that are 'passive' and so intimate that they write themselves the very instant I perceive them without the intervention of any so-called thought process." Essentially, Lispector endeavors to "bracket out" her editorial mind during writing, aiming to capture the authentic flow of her consciousness.

Feminism

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Existentialism is profoundly relevant to women, as demonstrated by Simone de Beauvoir, who was Sartre's lifelong partner. This philosophical approach suggests that individuals are constantly reshaping their identities in response to their awareness of others. However, women encounter a unique challenge due to their subjugation by men, who often define themselves by exerting control over women. De Beauvoir points out, "Woman... finds herself living in a world where men compel her to assume the status of the Other." Existential feminism doesn't solely hold men accountable for shaping female identity; it also recognizes that women play a part in forming their own gender identities. Women can perpetuate their own oppression by accepting subordinate roles and molding their identities to fit those roles. Feminism examines how gender identities are constructed and the impact these identities have on women's lives and literature. As Sartre illustrated, writing is a creative means to tackle issues of identity. Consequently, women's writing can be a form of resistance against oppression. Feminist critic Elaine Showalter emphasizes that feminist criticism looks at "woman as the producer of textual meaning, with the history, themes, genres, and structures of literature by women. Its subjects include the psychodynamics of female creativity; linguistics and the problem of a female language; the trajectory of the individual or collective female literary career; literary history; and, of course, studies of particular writers and works."

Clarice Lispector was not a feminist in a political sense, yet her writings have been embraced by numerous feminist critics, notably Helene Cixous. Cixous interprets Lispector's fiction through her feminist perspective. Under Cixous' analysis, Lispector emerges as a feminist voice exploring "libidinal economies" by examining which sexual energies are valued or disregarded. Cixous views Lispector as an author who both acknowledges her role in shaping a subordinate female identity and subtly challenges male dominance through her writing. Cixous reinterprets Lispector's stories and novels to support her feminist ideology, a method that has faced some criticism. Another feminist critic, Maria Jose Barbosa, sees Lispector's work as empowering language to "combat discourses that seek to dominate and erode women's power as authors and as subjects within Brazilian culture." However, Lispector intentionally avoided writing with any political agenda, feminist or otherwise, diverging from the mainstream Brazilian literature of the 1960s, the era in which her work Family Ties was published. It is unlikely that Lispector would identify as a feminist, either in the 1960s political context or in the contemporary linguistic, semiotic, or ontological sense as described by Cixous. Although she recognized that the status of Brazilian women "still leaves much to be desired; she is enslaved," her writings focus more on human consciousness and the complexities of intimacy rather than on the politics or semiotics of gender.

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