Clarice Lispector: The voice of the writer inspired me to talk about sudden unexpected death in epilepsy

Abstract

Born in Tchetchelnik, a tiny Ukrainian village, on 10 December 1920, Clarice Lispector (Fig. 1) was the daughter of . In March 1922, when she was just 1 year 3 months old, Clarice arrived in Maceió, Alagoas State, Brazil, with her parents and two sisters, Elisa and Tania [1][2][3]. Three years later, the family moved to Recife, Pernambuco State. From that moment on, Clarice Lispector adopted Brazilian Portuguese as her native language [2,3]. After her mother and father died (1930 and 1940, respectively), Lispector started working as a writer for the Agência Nacional (Brazilian News Agency) during the Estado Novo (New State) period, under the presidency of Getúlio Vargas [1][2][3]. While in law school in Rio de Janeiro, she published her first journalistic works and short stories, catapulting to fame with the publication of her first novel, Near to the Wild Heart (Perto do Coração Selvagem), written as a self-monologue in a style and language that was considered revolutionary in Brazil [1-3]. For this book, the young author received in 1945 the Graça Aranha Prize, awarded by the Brazilian Academy of Letters [1-3]. Lispector left Brazil in 1944, following her husband Maury Gurgel Valente, a Brazilian diplomat. She spent the next 16 years in Europe and the United States [1-3]. On her return to Rio de Janeiro in 1959, she began producing her most famous works, including the stories of Family Ties (Laços de Família) and the great mystic novel The Passion According to G.H. (A Paixão Segundo G.H.) [1-3]. She then published her ''hymn to love": An Apprenticeship or the Book of Pleasures (Uma Aprendizagem ou O Livro dos Prazeres), in 1969, and the novel Live Water (Água viva), in 1973. She also published books of short stories: Clandestine Happiness (Felicidade Clandestina), The Imitation of the Rose (A imitação da rosa), Via crucis of the Body (Via crucis do corpo), and Where Were You at Night? (Onde estivestes de noite?) [1-3]. Finally, in 1977 she published The Hour of the Star (A hora da estrela), and in the same year, one day before her birthday, Clarice Lispector died, a victim of ovarian cancer [1-3].Clarice is now considered one of the most outstanding Brazilian prose writers of the 20th century [2]. Quite interestingly, Clarice Lispector had a peculiar personality. She was fascinated by the esoteric aspect of numbers [3]. She believed that the number 7 was the heart of the secret numbers and, coincidently, she started telling stories at 7 years of age [3]. As she described: ''Your heart beats seventy times per minute. Seven is the rhythm of man. The deeper wound heals in seven days if the destroyer is not close by" [3]. Thus, because of her enormous talent and rare personality, Clarice Lispector's fascination with the esoteric aspect of numbers inspired