Clarice Lispectors is one of Latin Americas most famous writers, and she wrote a number of books during her lifetime. Her novel Stream of Life (Água viva), which came out in 1973 and was translated into Swedish in 2007, is considered to be one of Lispectors most difficult texts to read. It consists of several fragments put together into one text; however the text has no traditional narrative or structure. It is the flow of moments that moves the text forward, as it is written down by the protagonist in the book.

The primary aim of this essay is to examine how the protagonist in Stream of Life through different means, as the moment, the description, the word and the variations, creates an active participation in the formation of its identity. I will discuss the moment and its act of constructing the book’s circular structure, which is of importance. The search for the instant is the momentum of the novel, and at the same time a method for the protagonist to approach the self; to capture the essence. For this discussion, I have used Michael Bachtin’s theory of the kronotop; the relationship between time and space in the novel.

My theory is that the act of writing is a performative strategy in the construction of the self. My thesis is based on Judith Butlers Gender Trouble in which she discusses performativity, how repetition establishes standards and gender identities in society. If the identity is not fixed, but instead created by a connection between cause and effect, this opens up for new possibilities. Being aware of the structure, the protagonist might be able to act out of it.