Tchetchelnick (Ukraine), 1926 1920: Clarice Lispector is born on December 10, 1920, in Tchechelnik, a small village in the Ukraine, the homeland of her parents, Pedro and Marietta Lispector. - 1921: In February 1921, when she is just two months old, Clarice arrives in Maceió, capital of the state of Alagoas, Brazil, with her parents and two sisters, Elisa and Tanya. Brazilian Portuguese would be young Clarice's native language. - 1924: The family moves to Recife, capital of the state of Pernambuco. - 1928: She goes to João Barbalho Elementary School. -1929: Marietta Lispector, her mother, dies when Clarice is not yet nine years old. - 1932: She enters Junior High School. - 1934: Pedro and the girls move to Rio de Janeiro; they travel on the ship Island Monarch, property of the Royal Mail Line. - 1937: She works as a school teacher. - 1939: She goes to college, preparing to be a lawyer. - 1940: Her father dies. Clarice Lispector starts working as a writer for the Agência Nacional [Brazilian News Agency]. This is the period of the Estado Novo [New State], under the presidency of Getúlio Vargas. 1941: She also works for the newspaper A Noite [The Night]. - 1942: Shortly after she turns 22, Clarice obtains her first working papers. - 1943: She graduates from college and marries Maury Gurgel Valente. He passes the admission exams and joins the Brazilian Diplomatic Corps, starting a career in diplomacy. Clarice is forced to leave Brazil for "about sixteen years". - 1944: She publishes her first novel, Perto do Coração Selvagem [Close to the Wild Heart]. The couple moves to Europe during the Second World War. - 1945: For her first published novel, the young author receives the Graça Aranha Prize, awarded by the Brazilian Academy of Letters. Italian painter De Chirico paints her portrait. 1946: Publication of her second novel, O Lustre [The Lamp], which she started writing in Brazil and finished in Naples, Italy. She returns to Europe with her husband, this time relocating to Berne. - 1947: She sees snow for the first time. - 1948: Her first son, Pedro, is born. She finishes A Cidade Sitiada [The Besieged Town ], published in 1949, when she returns to Rio de Janeiro. - 1950: She goes back to Europe, this time to Torquay, England. -1952: She is back in Rio, writing for the newspaper Comício [Rally]. She writes a column named "Entre Mulheres" [Among Women]. She relocates to Washington with her family. - 1953: Her second son, Paulo, is born in the United States. His godparents are Mafalda and Southern Brazilian writer Érico Veríssimo. Both are close friends of the couple. - 1954: The first French edition of Perto do Coração Selvagem is published by Editions Plon, with a cover designed by Henri Matisse. - 1956: She finishes A Maçã no Escuro [The Apple in the Dark]. - 1959: From Washington, she publishes her articles in the Brazilian magazine Senhor [Gentleman], starting with the first issue, in March. She is separated from her husband, Gurgel Valente. She relocates to Rio de Janeiro and starts writing her own column in the newspaper Correio da Manhã [Morning Gazette]. - 1960: Her first book of short stories, Laços de Família [Family Ties], is published in Brazil. She has a second column in the newspaper Diário da Noite [Evening Daily News]. 1961: A Maçã no Escuro, her second novel, is finally published. - 1964: Her second book of short stories, A Legião Estrangeira [The Foreign Legion], is considered by many to be her masterpiece. A paixão segundo G.H. [The Passion According to G.H.] - 1967: She starts publishing her stories in the newspaper Jornal do Brasil [Brazilian News], until the early seventies. In her apartment in the neighborhood of Leme, Rio de Janeiro, in the early hours of September 14, she falls asleep while smoking a cigarette. When she notices the fire, she tries to put it out with her own hands. Clarice is seriously injured. Her right hand, the one she uses for writing, is seriously injured. 1968: In "Diálogos possíveis com Clarice Lispector" [Possible Dialogues with Clarice Lispector], she interviews celebrities for the magazine Manchete [Headline]. On June 22, she takes part in a popular demonstration against the military dictatorship, together with a great number of intellectuals. It became known as Passeata dos Cem Mil [Demonstration of the Hundred Thousand]. She publishes A mulher que matou os peixes [The Woman Who Killed the Fishes], a book for children. - 1969: She publishes her "hymn to love": Uma Aprendizagem ou O Livro dos Prazeres [An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures]. - 1971: Felicidade Clandestina [Clandestine Happiness], a book of short stories. - 1972: The painter Carlos Scliar paints two portraits of the writer. 1973: Água viva [Live Water] and A imitação da rosa [The Imitation of the Rose], short stories. - 1974: A Vida íntima de Laura [Laura's Intimate Life], for children; Via crucis do corpo [The Way of the Cross of the Body], short stories; Onde estivestes de noite? [Where Were You at Night?], a book of short stories. - 1975: She takes part in the Witches World Congress, in Bogota, Colombia. - 1976: She's awarded a prize by the Fundação Cultural do Distrito Federal [Federal District Cultural Foundation], for her work as a whole. -1977: She publishes A hora da estrela [The Hour of the Star]. On December 9, the day before of her birthday, Clarice Lispector dies of cancer, in Rio. 1978: Three books are published after her death. Um sopro de vida [A Breath of Life] , Pulsações [Pulsations], Para não esquecer [Not to be Forgotten], a compilation of short stories, and Quase de verdade [Almost True], a book of interviews. - 1979: Bela e a fera [Beauty and the Beast], a compilation of some of the stories of her youth and stories written shortly before her death. - 1984: A descoberta do mundo [The Discovery of the World], a compilation of stories published in the Jornal do Brasil, from 1967 to 1973.
