'Aprendizaje' es el relato de cómo el amor se forja en dos seres; a través de un arduo desnudamiento interno los protagonistas van recuperando su identidad hasta alcanzar la renovación vital en la mutua entrega. A su ejercicio introspectivo opone la autora su propia búsqueda formal, el intento de superar los límites del estilo amalgamando forma y fondo en una prosa rebosante de imágenes que desarman al lector con su verdad hiriente. Su lectura ofrece a quien la emprende el desafío de seguir paso a paso ese hondamiento, ese despojarse de todos los bagajes para iniciar un definitivo aprendizaje de la existencia.

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Lispector-Un-apprentissage-ou-le-livre-des-plaisi...
> Québec français, (88), hiver 1993, p. 28 : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/44562ac
> Éditions des femmes : https://www.desfemmes.fr/litterature/un-apprentissage-ou-le-livre-des-plaisirs/
> Bibliographie : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/035774ar

What to make of a book that begins with a comma and ends with a colon? Is it a meditation, an interrupted narrative, a lengthy stream of consciousness perhaps? Lispector uses all these techniques. Her skill is such that she is able to not only use them singly, but frequently all at the same time.

Lóri, the protagonist, has a "condition", one that is at first unclear. It could be physical; it could be psychological. It is actually both, but Lóri has rolled them together. Ulisses, her suitor in this still platonic relationship, is able to separate them out. Regarding her limp, her tells her The condition can't be cured but the fear of the condition is curable.

The psychological condition he regards as curable, but this can only be done by Lóri, from within. Psychic pain pervades her life; to avoid it she has removed herself from emotional life. As she put it to Ulisses, I'm an insurmountable mountain along my own path.

Although Lóri often seems lost, this is actually a battle of control. Ulisses has told her they will not become lovers until she overcomes her self-doubt, her fear of life, and not only becomes acquainted with herself, but knows herself. Lóri has demanded nothing in return, passively accepting these conditions, yet paradoxically she is in control. Ulisses has said he will wait for her. The timing is all hers. This puts Ulisses in a position of passively waiting for Lóri to come to him, while at the same time allowing Lóri to tease Ulisses with each psychological breakthrough.

Lispector produces a real tension here as the reader wonders with Lóri whether she will be able to achieve self-realization. However, the idea that this process was an apprenticeship, with the goal to earn Ulisses, rather than to know herself for herself, was difficult. The novel is told from Lóri's point of view. Lispector charts her discoveries in a series of what could be called progressive ellipses. She makes some progress, regresses a bit, incorporates new ideas, and moves a bit further forward, while the language circles around on itself.

We know very little about Ulisses, other than the fact that he is a philosophy professor. Why is he worth this inner struggle and turmoil? Why does he put up with Lóri bowing out time after time?

A brief note by Lispector before the novel begins may give a clue. She says, This book demanded a greater liberty that I was afraid to give. It is far above me... She has said of it elsewhere I humanized myself. Lispector, whom the Guardian has called "One of the very great writers of the last century", was a mystic. Much of Lóri's quest involves the presence she calls 'the God', an entity she struggled to comprehend. She realized though "Not understanding" was so vast that it surpassed all understanding - understanding was always limited. But not-understanding had no frontiers and led to the infinite, to the God. This made it easier. Later she discovered Because it's in the Impossible that you find reality. Perhaps Lispector's message is that the apprenticeship is life itself; to arrive at complete self knowledge would leave nothing.

So, I first decided to read this book because I had read a quote on a friend's facebook status, and really liked how the words were phrased.
It didn't disappoint me at all. It starts a little "boring", making you believe it is incomplete and you're arriving to a story that has already started and you just feel out of place, as if fitting and reading it is something you shouldn't be doing. Then, before you actually notice it, it grasps you and throws you into Lori's mind. You feel as sad as she does, you question yourself when she does, and sometimes you want to cry out the answers or your own plea!
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Aprendizaje o El libro de los placeres (publicado por primera vez en 1969) despertó la polémica entre los críticos, que aún hoy debaten sus posibles interpretaciones. Aprendizaje es el relato de cómo el amor se forja en dos seres: a través de un arduo desnudamiento interno los protagonistas van recuperando su identidad hasta alcanzar la renovación vital en la mutua entrega. A su ejercicio introspectivo opone la autora su propia búsqueda formal, el intento de superar los límites del estilo amalgamando forma y fondo en una prosa rebosante de imágenes que desarman al lector con su verdad hiriente. Su lectura ofrece a quien la emprende el desafío de seguir paso a paso ese hondamiento, ese despojarse de todos los bagajes para iniciar un definitivo aprendizaje de la existencia.