{"product_id":"the-besieged-city-9780811226714","title":"The Besieged City","description":"\u003cp\u003eSeven decades after its original publication, Clarice Lispector's third novel--the story of a girl and the city her gaze reveals--is in English at last. Lucrécia Neves is ready to marry. Her suitors--soldierly Felipe, pensive Perseu, dependable Mateus--are attracted to her tawdry not-quite-beauty, which is of a piece with Sao Geraldo, the rough-and-ready township she inhabits. Civilization is on its way to this place, where wild horses still roam. As Lucrécia is tamed by marriage, Sao Geraldo gradually expels its horses; and as the town strives for the highest attainment it can conceive--a viaduct--it takes on the progressively more metropolitan manners that Lucrécia, with her vulgar ambitions, desires too. Yet it is precisely through this woman's superficiality--her identification with the porcelain knickknacks in her mother's parlor--that Clarice Lispector creates a profound and enigmatic meditation on \"the mystery of the thing.\" Written in Europe shortly after Clarice Lispector's own marriage, \u003cem\u003eThe Besieged City\u003c\/em\u003e is a proving ground for the intricate language and the radical ideas that characterize one of her century's greatest writers--and an ironic ode to the magnetism of the material.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLispector, Clarice:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eClarice Lispector\u003c\/strong\u003e (1920-1977), the greatest Brazilian writer of the twentieth century, has been called \"astounding\" (Rachel Kushner), \"a penetrating genius\" (Donna Seaman, \u003cem\u003eBooklist\u003c\/em\u003e), and \"one of the twentieth century's most mysterious writers\" (Orhan Pamuk).\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMoser, Benjamin:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eBenjamin Moser\u003c\/strong\u003e, the author of \u003cem\u003eWhy This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector\u003c\/em\u003e, is the editor of ND's Clarice Lispector translation series, of which this is the ninth volume. For \u003cem\u003eSontag: Her Life and Work\u003c\/em\u003e, he won the Pulitzer Prize.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLorenz, Johnny:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eJohnny Lorenz\u003c\/strong\u003e, son of Brazilian immigrants to the United States, was born in 1972. He received his doctorate in English from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000, and he is an associate professor at Montclair State University. In 2013, he was a finalist for Best Translated Book for his translation of \u003cem\u003eA Breath of Life \u003c\/em\u003eby Clarice Lispector (New Directions). His book of original poems, \u003cem\u003eEducation by Windows\u003c\/em\u003e, was published in 2018 by Poets \u0026amp; Traitors Press; it includes his translations of the poet Mario Quintana, for which he received a Fulbright grant. He has published articles on Brazilian literature in journals such as \u003cem\u003eLuso-Brazilian Review\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eModern Fiction Studies\u003c\/em\u003e. He is also the translator of Lispector's \u003cem\u003eThe Besieged City\u003c\/em\u003e (New Directions).","brand":"New Directions Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50726170394898,"sku":"9780811226714","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_1259736d-e97a-449e-a83a-14ba4cd21fcb.jpg?v=1737255192","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-besieged-city-9780811226714","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}