Hilda Hilst

{{Infobox writer

| name = Hilda Hilst

| image = Hilda Hilst, 1970 (cropped).tif

| caption = Hilst in 1970

| birth_name = Hilda de Almeida Prado Hilst

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|04|21|df=y}}

| birth_place = Jaú, São Paulo, Brazil

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|02|04|1930|04|21|df=y}}

| death_place = Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

| spouse = {{marriage|Dante Casarini|1968|1980|end=divorce}}

| occupation = {{hlist|Poet|novelist|playwright}}

| years_active = 1950–2004

| signature = Hh_assinatura.GIF

| genres = {{Cslist|Poetry|novel|play}}

}}

Hilda de Almeida Prado Hilst (21 April 1930 – 4 February 2004) was a Brazilian poet, novelist, and playwright. Her work touches on the themes of mysticism, insanity, the body, eroticism, and female sexual liberation. Hilst greatly revered the work of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, and the influence of their styles—like stream of consciousness and fractured reality—is evident in her own work.

Born in Jaú, São Paulo, Hilst graduated from the University of São Paulo in 1952. While studying there, she published her first book of poems, Omen ({{lang|pt-br|Presságio}}), in 1950. After a brief trip to Europe, Hilst was influenced by Nikos Kazantzakis' Report to Greco to move away from the São Paulo scene, and she secluded herself in an estate near the outskirts of Campinas. Deciding to devote her life to her literary creations, she constructed the House of the Sun ({{lang|pt-br|Casa do Sol}}), where she would invite several artists and intellectuals to live.

Writing forty works over her lifetime, she was one of the most prolific writers of her generation. Her works were mostly not well known outside of her home country until after her death, when several of her books were translated to English.

Life and career

=Early years=

Hilda de Almeida Prado Hilst was the only daughter of Apolônio de Almeida Prado Hilst and Bedecilda Vaz Cardoso. Her father owned a coffee plantation and also worked as a journalist, poet, and essayist. He was affected by schizophrenia throughout his life. Her mother came from a conservative Portuguese immigrant family. The conditions of her parents' mental health (and the relationships they had with mental health) greatly influenced Hilst's writing, and her books describe several experiences she had with her father.{{Cite journal |last=Visnadi |first=Marcos |date=6 July 2021 |title=Líquida semente: sobre a herança entre Apolônio e Hilda Hilst |trans-title=Liquid seed: on the inheritance between Apolônio and Hilda Hilst |url=https://periodicosonline.uems.br/index.php/REV/article/view/5902 |journal=Revell - Revista de Estudos Literários da UEMS |language=pt-br |publisher=Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul |volume=1 |issue=28 |pages=44–54 |issn=2179-4456 |access-date=22 October 2023 |archive-date=16 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016150315/https://periodicosonline.uems.br/index.php/REV/article/view/5902 |url-status=live }} Her parents separated in 1932 while she was still an infant, and three years later her father received the diagnosis of schizophrenia and thereafter spent much of his life in mental institutions. Her mother was also institutionalized at the end of her life, in the same institution as her husband.{{Cite book |title=Cadernos de Literatura Brasileira |publisher=Instituto Moreira Salles |year=1999 |issue=8 |pages=9–10 |language=pt-br |issn=1413-652X |url=https://issuu.com/ims_instituto_moreira_salles/docs/clb_hilda_-_geral |access-date=25 October 2023 |archive-date=15 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815204014/https://issuu.com/ims_instituto_moreira_salles/docs/clb_hilda_-_geral |url-status=live }}

Hilst grew up in Jaú, a town in the state of São Paulo, with her mother and half brother from her mother's previous marriage. Hilst attended elementary and high school at Collegia Santa Marcelina in São Paulo before enrolling in a bachelor's degree program at Mackenzie Presbyterian University.{{Cite book |last=Sadlier |first=Darlene J. |url=https://iupress.org/9780253206992/one-hundred-years-after-tomorrow/ |title=One hundred years after tomorrow : Brazilian women's fiction in the 20th century |date=1992 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=9780253206992 |location=Bloomington |page=146 |access-date=7 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407132729/https://iupress.org/9780253206992/one-hundred-years-after-tomorrow/ |archive-date=7 April 2023 |url-status=live}} Before Hilst started college, her mother told her of her father's condition, and Hilst went to visit him in a mental institution for the first time.{{Cite interview |last=Hilst |first=Hilda |title=Das sombras – entrevista |work=Cadernos de Literatura Brasileira |issue=8 |publisher=Instituto Moreira Salles |place=São Paulo |date=October 1999 |page=39 |quote=Mas eu voltei a vê-lo quando tinha dezesseis anos. Meu pai estava na fazenda dele e pediu para me chamar. |trans-quote=But I saw him again when I was sixteen. My father was on his farm and asked him to call me. |language=pt-br}}

After graduating from Mackenzie, Hilst began studying for her second degree at the law school at the University of São Paulo, where she met her lifelong friend Lygia Fagundes.{{Cite web |last=Menezes |first=Clara |date=3 April 2022 |title=Morte de Lygia Fagundes Telles: lembre amizade da escritora com Hilda Hilst |trans-title=Lygia Fagundes Telles' death: remember the writer's friendship with Hilda Hilst |url=https://www.opovo.com.br/vidaearte/2022/04/03/morte-de-lygia-fagundes-telles-lembre-amizade-da-escritora-com-hilda-hilst.html |access-date=25 October 2023 |website=O Povo |language=pt-br |archive-date=3 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403174022/https://www.opovo.com.br/vidaearte/2022/04/03/morte-de-lygia-fagundes-telles-lembre-amizade-da-escritora-com-hilda-hilst.html |url-status=live }}

=Early career=

Hilst published her first book of poetry in 1950, Omen ({{lang|pt-br|Presságio}}), which received great acclaim from her contemporaries like Jorge de Lima and Cecília Meireles. It was not long before she published her second book, Ballad of Alzira ({{lang|pt-br|Balada de Alzira}}) in 1951. That same year Hilst took over guardianship of her father. Later in 1957, Hilst began her seven-month tour of Europe, traveling through France, Italy and Greece. There, she briefly dated singer-actor Dean Martin and impersonated a journalist, in an attempt to meet Marlon Brando. She asked him about his thoughts on Franz Kafka's works, to which he dismissively replied, "I won't think about Mr. Kafka".{{Cite book |last1=Folgueira |first1=Laura |title=Eu e não outra: a vida intensa de Hilda Hilst |last2=Destri |first2=Luisa |date=2018 |publisher=Tordesilhas |isbn=978-8-584-19070-6 |location=São Paulo, São Paulo |language=pt-br |trans-title=Me and not another: the intense life of Hilda Hilst}}{{Cite web |last=Vick |first=Mariana |date=22 June 2018 |title=Primeira biografia mostra devoção de Hilda Hilst a projeto literário |trans-title=First biography shows Hilda Hilst's devotion to literary project |url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2018/06/primeira-biografia-mostra-devocao-de-hilda-hilst-a-projeto-literario.shtml |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012214150/https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2018/06/primeira-biografia-mostra-devocao-de-hilda-hilst-a-projeto-literario.shtml |archive-date=12 October 2023 |access-date=12 October 2023 |website=Folha de S.Paulo |publisher=Folha da Manhã |language=pt-BR}}

Upon her return to São Paulo, she settled in the Sumaré neighborhood, and was frequently in the company of other artists, such as Gilka Machado and Bráulio Pedroso. However, after reading Nikos Kazantzakis' Report to Greco, and being influenced by its themes of self-isolation to achieve knowledge of the human being, Hilst decided to leave São Paulo in 1964 and return to her childhood home in Campinas.{{Cite thesis |last=Coelho |first=Kamilla Kristina Sousa França |title=Deus segundo o olhar de Kazantzakis e Hilda Hilst |url=https://www.hildahilst.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Deus-segundo-o-olhar-de-Kazantzakis-e-Hilda-Hilst-Kamilla-Kristina-Sousa-Franca-Coelho.pdf |language=pt-br |access-date=7 April 2023 |trans-title=God through the eyes of Kazantzakis and Hilda Hilst |archive-date=7 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407132120/https://www.hildahilst.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Deus-segundo-o-olhar-de-Kazantzakis-e-Hilda-Hilst-Kamilla-Kristina-Sousa-Franca-Coelho.pdf |url-status=live}}

She ordered the construction of a new house on the same property, nicknamed the House of the Sun ({{lang|pt-br|Casa do Sol}}), which she personally designed to be an artistic space for inspiration and creativity.{{Cite web |last=Gabriel |first=Ruan de Souza |date=21 April 2023 |title=Obra erótica de Hilda Hilst inspira restauro da Casa do Sol, refúgio da escritora |trans-title=Hilda Hilst's erotic work inspires restoration of Casa do Sol, the writer's refuge |url=https://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/livros/noticia/2023/04/obra-erotica-de-hilda-hilst-inspira-restauro-da-casa-do-sol-refugio-da-escritora.ghtml |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012215543/https://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/livros/noticia/2023/04/obra-erotica-de-hilda-hilst-inspira-restauro-da-casa-do-sol-refugio-da-escritora.ghtml |archive-date=12 October 2023 |access-date=12 October 2023 |website=O Globo |publisher=Grupo Globo |language=pt-br}} When it was completed in 1966, she moved into the house with sculptor Dante Casarini,{{Cite interview |last=Hilst |first=Hilda |title=Os dentes da loucura |url=http://www.letras.ufmg.br/websuplit/arquivos.php?a=2001&c=00007004200104-00007004200105-00007004200106-00007004200107-00007004200108-00007004200109-00007004200110-00007004200111-00007004200112-00007004200113-00007004200114 |access-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009001856/http://www.letras.ufmg.br/websuplit/arquivos.php?a=2001&c=00007004200104-00007004200105-00007004200106-00007004200107-00007004200108-00007004200109-00007004200110-00007004200111-00007004200112-00007004200113-00007004200114 |archive-date=9 October 2023 |url-status=live |work=Suplemento Literário de Minas Gerais |issue=70 |place=Belo Horizonte |date=April 2001 |quote=Mudei para cá no dia 24 de junho de 1966, dia de São João. Nessa época eu vivia com o Dante Casarini, com quem acabei por casar. |interviewer-last1=Weintraub |interviewer-first1=Fábio |interviewer-last2=Cohn |interviewer-first2=Sérgio |trans-title=The teeth of madness |language=pt-BR |trans-quote=I moved here on 24 June 1966, St. John's Day. At the time I was living with Dante Casarini, whom I ended up marrying.}} with whom she had a prior relationship. In September of the same year, her father died.{{Cite magazine |date=2 July 2018 |title=Obra de Hilda Hilst celebra condição feminina em homenagem à figura do pai |trans-title=Hilda Hilst's work celebrates womanhood in homage to her father |url=https://revistaeducacao.com.br/2018/07/02/obra-de-hilda-hilst-celebra-condicao-feminina-em-homenagem-figura-do-pai/ |magazine=Revista Educação |language=pt-br |issue=250 |access-date=16 October 2023 |archive-date=4 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704144738/https://revistaeducacao.com.br/2018/07/02/obra-de-hilda-hilst-celebra-condicao-feminina-em-homenagem-figura-do-pai/ |url-status=live }}

=Theater and prose=

At the House of the Sun, Hilst was particularly prolific as she started writing her first theater works, completing nine plays and one poetry compilation between 1967 and 1969. She married Casarini in 1968. Although the marriage only lasted twelve years, the two continued to live together in the House of the Sun.{{Cite web |last=Vasconcelos |first=Ana Lúcia |date=4 February 2012 |title=Musa Rara » Minhas memórias de Hilda Hilst – Parte I |trans-title=Musa Rara » My memories of Hilda Hilst – Part I |url=https://musarara.com.br/minhas-memorias-de-hilda-hilst-%E2%80%93-parte-i |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407132118/https://musarara.com.br/minhas-memorias-de-hilda-hilst-%E2%80%93-parte-i |archive-date=7 April 2023 |access-date=7 April 2023 |website=Musa Rara |language=pt-br}} Hilst lived somewhat secluded in Campinas for the rest of her life, accompanied by other artists. The House of the Sun became a hub for artists and writers, who were invited to spend time there and enjoy the creative atmosphere. Two prominent artists to do so were Bruno Tolentino and Caio Fernando Abreu. During her time at the House of the Sun, Hilst also engaged in her own experiments with electronic voice phenomena, an electronic recording method that supposedly interprets the voices of the dead.{{Cite web |last=Genestreti |first=Guilherme |date=25 July 2018 |title=Filme explora tentativas de Hilda Hilst de falar com os mortos |trans-title=Film explores Hilda Hilst's attempts to talk to the dead |url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2018/07/filme-explora-tentativas-de-hilda-hilst-de-falar-com-os-mortos.shtml |url-access=limited |access-date=14 October 2023 |website=Folha de S.Paulo |language=pt-BR |archive-date=26 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126051810/https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2018/07/filme-explora-tentativas-de-hilda-hilst-de-falar-com-os-mortos.shtml |url-status=live }} In 1969, she built a second home, the {{lang|pt-br|Casa da Lua (House of the Moon)}}. Her theater writings finished in the same year, with her turning instead to prose fiction with her experimental text {{lang|pt-br|Fluxo-Floema}} a year later.{{Cite book |last=Moraes |first=Eliane Robert |title=Essays on Hilda Hilst |chapter=Figurations of Eros in Hilda Hilst |series=Literatures of the Americas |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-56318-3_4 |date=2018 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-319-56317-6 |editor-last=Morris |editor-first=Adam |location=Cham |page=61 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-56318-3_4 |editor-last2=Carvalho |editor-first2=Bruno |access-date=16 October 2023 |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016204402/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-56318-3_4 |url-status=live }}

=Later years=

In the 1980s, due to increasing financial pressure from a lack of book sales, Hilst participated in the {{lang|pt-br|Programa do Artista Residente}} (Artist-in-Residence program), at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, being the first artist to do so. The program was conceived as a way for students to meet established authors. She later held other teaching positions at the university.{{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Adam |title=Essays on Hilda Hilst |chapter=Hilda Hilst, Metaphysician |series=Literatures of the Americas |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-56318-3_5 |date=2018 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-319-56317-6 |editor-last=Morris |editor-first=Adam |location=Cham |page=78 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-56318-3_5 |editor-last2=Carvalho |editor-first2=Bruno |access-date=20 October 2023 |archive-date=25 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025190555/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-56318-3_5 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Hilda Hilst |url=https://www.idea.unicamp.br/artista-residente/hilda-hilst/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007134956/https://www.idea.unicamp.br/artista-residente/hilda-hilst/ |archive-date=7 October 2023 |access-date=5 October 2023 |website=IDEA |language=pt-BR}}

Hilst published Lori Lamby's Pink Notebook ({{lang|pt-br|O caderno rosa de Lori Lamby}}) in 1990, the first book of a pornographic tetralogy. She announced her "goodbye to serious literature" in the 1990s because she was "irritated by the meager reaching of her writing".{{Cite web |date=24 July 2018 |title=Hilda Hilst: conheça a autora homenageada da Flip 2018 |trans-title=Hilda Hilst: meet the author commemorated by Flip 2018 |url=https://g1.globo.com/pop-arte/flip/2018/noticia/2018/07/24/hilda-hilst-conheca-a-autora-homenageada-da-flip-2018.ghtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925154808/https://g1.globo.com/pop-arte/flip/2018/noticia/2018/07/24/hilda-hilst-conheca-a-autora-homenageada-da-flip-2018.ghtml |archive-date=25 September 2022 |access-date=7 October 2023 |website=G1 |publisher=Grupo Globo |language=pt-br}}

{{blockquote|text=

{{lang|pt-BR|Meus livros não vendem, não são reeditados, as pessoas me acham difícil. Estou cansada desse estigma{{nbsp}}... Fiquei desesperada com o esquecimento em torno do meu nome. Sempre quis ser lida, não queria ficar nas gavetas.}}{{Cite news |last=Ercília |first=Maria |date=1 September 1991 |title=Uma mulher de leitura fácil |language=pt-BR |work=Folha de S.Paulo |publisher=Folha da Manhã |location=São Paulo, São Paulo |url=http://acervo.folha.uol.com.br/digital/leitor.do?numero=11438&anchor=4053186&originURL=&maxTouch=0 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=8 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009001801/https://edicaodigital.folha.uol.com.br/?done=http://acervo.folha.uol.com.br/digital/leitor.do?numero=11438&anchor=4053186&originURL=&maxTouch=0 |archive-date=9 October 2023}}

My books don't sell, they don't get reprinted, people find me difficult. I'm tired of this stigma{{nbsp}}... I became desperate with the forgetfulness surrounding my name. I always wanted to be read, I didn't want to stay in the drawers.

|multiline=yes

|author=Hilda Hilst

}}

A number of Hilst's books were originally published by smaller Brazilian publishers, but beginning in 2001, Editora Globo, the publishing branch of the Brazilian media organization Globo, began reissuing nearly all her works, as part of its {{lang|pt-br|Coleção Reunidas de Hilda Hilst}}.{{Cite book |last1=Pécora |first1=Alcir |title=Por que ler Hilda Hilst |last2=Destri |first2=Luisa |last3=Diniz |first3=Cristiano |last4=Purceno |first4=Sonia |date=2010 |publisher=Editora Globo |isbn=9788525048455 |location=São Paulo |pages=109–111 |language=pt-br |trans-title=Why read Hilda Hilst}}{{Cite book |last=Diniz |first=Cristiano |url=https://www.iel.unicamp.br/arquivos/publicacao/fortuna_critica_de_hilda_hilst.pdf |title=Fortuna crítica de Hilda Hilst |date=23 May 2018 |publisher=Universidade Estadual de Campinas |location=Campinas, São Paulo |pages=8–10 |language=pt-BR |trans-title=Critical fortune of Hilda Hilst |access-date=8 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817131342/https://www.iel.unicamp.br/arquivos/publicacao/fortuna_critica_de_hilda_hilst.pdf |archive-date=17 August 2023 |url-status=live}} She stopped writing in the same year, telling an interviewer that she had said everything she wanted to say.{{Cite interview |last=Hilst |first=Hilda |title=Os dentes da loucura |url=http://www.letras.ufmg.br/websuplit/arquivos.php?a=2001&c=00007004200104-00007004200105-00007004200106-00007004200107-00007004200108-00007004200109-00007004200110-00007004200111-00007004200112-00007004200113-00007004200114 |access-date=5 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009001856/http://www.letras.ufmg.br/websuplit/arquivos.php?a=2001&c=00007004200104-00007004200105-00007004200106-00007004200107-00007004200108-00007004200109-00007004200110-00007004200111-00007004200112-00007004200113-00007004200114 |archive-date=9 October 2023 |url-status=live |work=Suplemento Literário de Minas Gerais |issue=70 |place=Belo Horizonte |date=April 2001 |quote=Não sei nada sobre a minha obra. Só sei que a escrevi. Durante cinquenta anos pude escrever tudo o que queria escrever. |interviewer-last1=Weintraub |interviewer-first1=Fábio |interviewer-last2=Cohn |interviewer-first2=Sérgio |trans-title=The teeth of madness |language=pt-BR |trans-quote=I don't know anything about my work. All I know is that I wrote it. For fifty years I was able to write everything I wanted to write.}}

=Death=

Hilst died on 4 February 2004, in Campinas at the age of 73. She had been hospitalized at the Hospital das Clínicas da Unicamp since 2 January, following surgery for a fractured femur.{{Cite web |date=4 February 2004 |title=Folha Online – Ilustrada – Morre escritora Hilda Hilst; enterro será às 16h em Campinas – 04/02/2004 |trans-title=Folha Online – Illustrated – Writer Hilda Hilst dies; burial at 4pm in Campinas – 04/02/2004 |url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u41160.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407132727/https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u41160.shtml |archive-date=7 April 2023 |access-date=7 April 2023 |website=Folha de São Paulo |language=pt-br}} Her health sharply declined after contracting an infection, aggravated by a chronic heart and pulmonary condition, before she eventually passed away due to multiple organ failure.{{Cite web |date=4 February 2004 |title=Morre a escritora Hilda Hilst |trans-title=Writer Hilda Hilst dies |url=https://www.estadao.com.br/cultura/morre-a-escritora-hilda-hilst/ |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522182546/https://www.estadao.com.br/cultura/morre-a-escritora-hilda-hilst/ |archive-date=22 May 2023 |access-date=22 May 2023 |website=Estadão |language=pt-br}}{{Cite web |last=Shimizu |first=Heitor |date=4 February 2004 |title=Hilda Hilst morre aos 73 anos |trans-title=Hilda Hilst dies at 73 |url=https://agencia.fapesp.br/hilda-hilst-morre-aos-73-anos/1315/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522182550/https://agencia.fapesp.br/hilda-hilst-morre-aos-73-anos/1315/ |archive-date=22 May 2023 |access-date=22 May 2023 |website=Agência FAPESP |language=pt-br}} Following her death, Hilst's friend Mora Fuentes created the Hilda Hilst Institute in her honor, an organization whose mission is to uphold the House of the Sun as a space for artistic creation and serves as a library and cultural center.{{Cite web |date=21 December 2016 |title=Instituto Hilda Hilst apresenta: Obscena Lucidez | Hilda Hilst |trans-title=Hilda Hilst Institute presents: Obscena Lucidez | Hilda Hilst |url=http://www.hildahilst.com.br/instituto-hilda-hilst#inst-instituto-hilda-hilst |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504012603/http://www.hildahilst.com.br/instituto-hilda-hilst#inst-instituto-hilda-hilst |archive-date=4 May 2018 |access-date=3 May 2018 |language=pt-BR}} Author Yuri Vieira, who lived in the House of the Sun for two years, wrote a book about his experiences there.{{Cite book |last=Vieira |first=Yuri |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1054269123 |title=O exorcista na Casa do Sol : relatos do último pupilo de Hilda Hilst |date=2018 |publisher=José Olympio |isbn=978-85-03-01351-2 |edition=1st |location=Rio de Janeiro |language=pt-br |trans-title=The exorcist at the House of the Sun : stores from Hilda Hilst's last pupil |oclc=1054269123 |access-date=1 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207051456/http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1054269123 |archive-date=7 February 2022 |url-status=live}}

After her death, Hilst garnered more fame among English language readership as several of her novels were translated to the language, such as With My Dog Eyes, The Obscene Madame D., and Letters from a Seducer.

Themes

Hilda Hilst wrote for almost 50 years, publishing forty books over her lifetime.{{Cite web |last=Giron |first=Luís Antnio |date=13 July 2018 |title=A onda Hilda |trans-title=The Hilda wave |url=https://istoe.com.br/a-onda-hilda/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815204040/https://istoe.com.br/a-onda-hilda/ |archive-date=15 August 2023 |access-date=7 October 2023 |website=ISTOÉ Independente |language=pt-br}} The different periods of her life are reflected in the phases of her work: she began as a poet, publishing {{lang|pt-br|Presságio}} in 1950, through the time before she moved into the House of the Sun; around the death of her father and her marriage, she started publishing and staging plays in 1967; and shifted into prose in 1970, with her experimental text {{lang|pt-br|Fluxo-Floema}}. Throughout her career, beginning in 1958 with Adoniran Barbosa, musicians selected poems of hers to be set to music.{{Cite book |last1=Pécora |first1=Alcir |title=Por que ler Hilda Hilst |last2=Destri |first2=Luisa |last3=Diniz |first3=Cristiano |last4=Purceno |first4=Sonia |date=2010 |publisher=Editora Globo |isbn=9788525048455 |location=São Paulo |pages=57–62 |language=pt-br |trans-title=Why read Hilda Hilst}} Relatively obscure in her lifetime, her work has since been extensively studied and analyzed after her death. She has been highly referenced in books, magazines, academic journals, and others.

In several of her writings Hilst tackled politically and socially controversial issues, such as obscenity, queer sexuality, and incest. The tetralogy that comprises Lori Lamby's Pink Notebook ({{lang|pt-br|O caderno rosa de Lori Lamby}}) and Tales of Derision: Grotesque Texts ({{lang|pt-br|Contos d'escárnio. Textos grotescos}}) (1990); {{lang|pt-br|Cartas de um Sedutor}} (1991); and {{lang|pt-br|Bufólicas}} (1992), includes overtly pornographic material, if not pornography per se.{{Cite journal |last=Alcir Pecora |date=March 2004 |title=Hilda Hilst has died. Long live Hilda Hilst! |url=http://revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/en/2004/03/11/hilda-hilst-has-died-long-live-hilda-hilst/ |url-status=live |journal=Pesquisa FAESP |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019101653/http://revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/en/2004/03/11/hilda-hilst-has-died-long-live-hilda-hilst/ |archive-date=19 October 2015 |access-date=19 March 2013}} Her pornographic work started as a response to the minimal popularity her previous works had with the general audience.{{Cite journal |last=Ferreira |first=Ermelinda |year=2003 |title=Da poesia erudita à narrativa pornográfica:: sobre a incursão de Hilda Hilst no pós-modernismo |trans-title=From erudite poetry to pornographic narrative:: on Hilda Hilst's foray into postmodernism |url=https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/estudos/article/view/8934/7966 |url-status=live |journal=Estudos de Literatura Brasileira Contemporânea |language=pt-BR |issue=21 |pages=114–115 |issn=2316-4018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200829000233/https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/estudos/article/view/8934/7966 |archive-date=29 August 2020 |access-date=8 October 2023}} She explored theological issues in her work as well, particularly regarding God and the "search of the divine".{{Cite journal |last=Suttana |first=Renato |date=July 2006 |title=Hilda Hilst: a ficção em busca de Deus |trans-title=Hilda Hilst: fiction in search of God |url=https://revistas.unicentro.br/index.php/analecta/article/viewFile/2127/1820 |url-status=live |journal=Revista Analecta |language=pt-BR |location=Guarapuava, Paraná |publisher=Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=134–135 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009211607/https://revistas.unicentro.br/index.php/analecta/article/viewFile/2127/1820 |archive-date=9 October 2023 |access-date=9 October 2023}}{{cite book |last1=Albuquerque |first1=Gabriel Arcanjo Santos |title=Deus. Amor. Morte: E as atitudes líricas de Hilda Hilst |trans-title=God, love, death and the lyrical attitudes in Hilda Hilst's poetry |date=12 December 2011 |publisher=Editora Valer |isbn=9788575125472 |language=pt-br}} Other common themes in her writings include madness,{{Cite journal |last=Moura |first=Amanda |year=2012 |title=A loucura em A obscena Senhora D. |trans-title=The madness in A obscena Senhora D. |url=https://revistas.unipam.edu.br/index.php/cratilo/article/view/3989/1540 |journal=Crátilo |language=pt-br |location=Patos de Minas, Minas Gerais |publisher=Centro Universitário de Patos de Minas |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=40–49 |issn=1984-0705 |access-date=10 October 2023 |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016204406/https://revistas.unipam.edu.br/index.php/cratilo/article/view/3989/1540 |url-status=live }} old age,{{Cite journal |last=Visnadi |first=Marcos de Campos |year=2007 |title=O sensório e o fugidio: velhice na prosa de Hilda Hilst |trans-title=The sensory and the elusive: old age in Hilda Hilst's prose |url=https://mafua.ufsc.br/2007/o-sensorio-e-o-fugidio-velhice-na-prosa-de-hilda-hilst/ |url-status=live |journal=Mafuá |language=pt-br |location=Florianópolis, Santa Catarina |publisher=Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina |issue=8 |issn=1806-2555 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201024438/https://mafua.ufsc.br/2007/o-sensorio-e-o-fugidio-velhice-na-prosa-de-hilda-hilst/ |archive-date=1 February 2023 |access-date=10 October 2023}} love, and death.

In Hilst's prose fiction, she employs several narrative features to build the narrative, including passages of metanarrative discourse; soliloquies; simulacra of dramatic theatrical texts; colloquial register of regional linguistic variants; words, expressions and quotations from foreign literary works in the language of origin – in English and Latin; stream of consciousness and fractured reality; sparse notes; poems; letters and questions addressed directly to the reader.{{Cite journal |last=Rodrigues |first=Ivon Rabêlo |date=July 2016 |title="Umasómúltiplamatéria": Fluxo de consciência e profusão de gêneros textuais como estratégias de construção narrativa em Estar sendo. Ter sido, de Hilda Hilst |trans-title="Onlyonemultiplematter": Stream of consciousness and profusion of textual genres as narrative construction strategies in Estar sendo. Ter sido, by Hilda Hilst |url=http://www.revistaversalete.ufpr.br/edicoes/vol4-07/Revista_versalete_n_7.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Revista Versalete |language=pt-BR |location=Curitiba, Paraná |publisher=Federal University of Paraná |volume=4 |issue=7 |page=144 |issn=2318-1028 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323150538/http://revistaversalete.ufpr.br/edicoes/vol4-07/Revista_versalete_n_7.pdf |archive-date=23 March 2023 |access-date=9 October 2023}} She was greatly influenced by the works of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, whom she greatly revered.{{Cite interview |last=Hilst |first=Hilda |title=Das sombras – entrevista |work=Cadernos de literatura brasileira |issue=8 |publisher=Instituto Moreira Salles |place=São Paulo |date=October 1999 |page=39 |quote=O Joyce e o Beckett eu acho maravilhosos. O Joyce está na minha mesa. Mas é curioso mesmo essa linha mais recuada da poesia e mais moderna da prosa. |trans-quote=I think Joyce and Beckett are wonderful. Joyce is on my desk. But it's curious, this more retro line in poetry and more modern in prose. |language=pt-br}}{{Cite journal |last=André |first=Willian |date=7 November 2017 |title=Considerações sobre a literatura de Hilda Hilst e Samuel Beckett com base na crítica filosófica da linguagem de Fritz Mauthner |trans-title=Considerations on the literature of Hilda Hilst and Samuel Beckett based on Fritz Mauthner's philosophical critique of language |url=https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/o_eixo_ea_roda/article/view/28388 |journal=O Eixo e a Roda: Revista de Literatura Brasileira |language=pt-br |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=75–100 |doi=10.17851/2358-9787.26.3.75-100 |issn=2358-9787 |url-access=subscription }}

Honors

In 1962 she won the Prêmio PEN Clube of São Paulo, for {{lang|pt-br|Sete Cantos do Poeta para o Anjo}} (Massao Ohno Editor, 1962). In 1969, the play {{lang|pt-br|O Verdugo}} took the Prêmio Anchieta, one of the most important cultural awards in the country at the time. The Brazilian Association of Art Critics (APCA Prize) deemed {{lang|pt-br|Ficções}} (Edições Quíron, 1977) the best book of the year. In 1981, Hilda Hilst won the {{lang|pt-br|Grande Prêmio da Crítica para o Conjunto da Obra}}, by the same association. In 1984, the {{interlanguage link|Câmara Brasileira do Livro|pt}} awarded her the Jabuti Prize for {{lang|pt-br|Cantares de Perda e Predileção}}, and the following year the same book claimed the Prêmio Cassiano Ricardo (Clube de Poesia de São Paulo). {{lang|pt-br|Rútilo Nada}}, published in 1993, took the Jabuti Prize for best short story, and finally, on 9 August 2002, she was awarded at the 47th edition of Prêmio Moinho Santista in the poetry category.{{Cite web |date=9 August 2002 |title=Folha Online – Ilustrada – Hilda Hilst e Ruth Rocha ganham prêmio Moinho Santista – 09/08/2002 |trans-title=Folha Online – Illustrated – Hilda Hilst and Ruth Rocha win Moinho Santista prize – 09/08/2002 |url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u26395.shtml |access-date=11 October 2023 |website=Folha de S.Paulo |language=pt-br |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016204412/https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/paywall/login.shtml?https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u26395.shtml |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=4 February 2004 |title=Folha Online – Ilustrada – Saiba quais foram os prêmios recebidos por Hilda Hilst – 04/02/2004 |trans-title=Folha Online – Illustrated – Find out which awards Hilda Hilst received – 04/02/2004 |url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u41164.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210221741/https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u41164.shtml |archive-date=10 February 2021 |access-date=11 October 2023 |website=Folha de S.Paulo |publisher=Folha da Manhã |language=pt-br}}

Translation

Some of Hilst's texts have been translated from Brazilian Portuguese to French, English, Italian and German. In March 1997, her works {{lang|pt-br|Com meus olhos de cão}} and {{lang|pt-br|A obscena senhora D}} were published by Éditions Gallimard, translated by Maryvonne Lapouge. The latter was translated into English as The Obscene Madame D collaboratively by Nathanaël and Rachel Gontijo Araújo, and published jointly by Nightboat Books in New York and A Bolha Editora in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. In 2014, Letters from a Seducer, John Keene's translation of the 1991 novel {{lang|pt-br|Cartas de um sedutor}}, was published by Nightboat Books and A Bolha Editora, and With My Dog Eyes, Adam Morris's translation of Hilst's 1986 novella {{lang|pt-br|Com os meus olhos de cão}}, was published by Melville House.{{Cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Adam |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-56318-3_1 |last2=Carvalho |first2=Bruno |title=Essays on Hilda Hilst |date=2018 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-319-56317-6 |editor-last=Morris |editor-first=Adam |series=Literatures of the Americas |location=Cham |pages=1–16 |language=en |chapter=Introduction: Who's Afraid of Hilda Hilst? An Author Between Brazil and "World Literature." |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-56318-3_1 |access-date=1 October 2023 |editor-last2=Carvalho |editor-first2=Bruno |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-56318-3_1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191116105734/https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-56318-3 |archive-date=16 November 2019 |url-status=live}}

Publications

=Poetry=

{{lang|pt-BR|Presságio}} (Omen). São Paulo: Revista dos Tribunais (1950)
{{lang|pt-BR|Balada de Alzira}} (Ballad of Alzira). São Paulo: Edições Alarico (1951)
{{lang|pt-BR|Balada do festival}} (The Festival Ballad). Rio de Janeiro: Jornal de Letras (1955)
{{lang|pt-BR|Roteiro do silêncio}} (Script of Silence). Rio de Janeiro: Anhambi (1959)
{{lang|pt-BR|Trovas de muito amor para um amado senhor}} (Troves of Love for a Beloved Gentleman). São Paulo: Anhambi (1960)
{{lang|pt-BR|Ode fragmentária}} (Fragmentary Ode). São Paulo: Anhambi (1961)
{{lang|pt-BR|Sete cantos do poeta para o anjo}} (Seven Songs from the Poet to the Angel). São Paulo: Massao Ohno (1962)
{{lang|pt-BR|Poesia (1959–1967)}} (Poetry). São Paulo: Editora Sal (1967)
{{lang|pt-BR|Júbilo, memória, noviciado da paixão}} (Jubilation, Memory, Novitiate of the Passion). São Paulo: Massao Ohno (1974)
{{lang|pt-BR|Da morte. Odes mínimas}} (Of Death. Minimal Odes). São Paulo: Massao Ohno/Roswitha Kempf (1980)
{{lang|pt-BR|Poesia (1959–1979)}} (Poetry). São Paulo: Ed. Quíron/INL (1980)
{{lang|pt-BR|Cantares de perda e predileção}} (Songs of Loss and Predilection). São Paulo: Massao Ohno/M. Lydia Pires e Albuquerque (1983)
{{lang|pt-BR|Poemas malditos, gozosos e devotos}} (Damned, Joyful and Devout Poems). São Paulo: Massao Ohno/Ismael Guarnelli (1984)
{{lang|pt-BR|Sobre a tua grande face}} (Upon Your Great Face). São Paulo: Massao Ohno (1986)
{{lang|pt-BR|Amavisse}}. São Paulo: Massao Ohno. (1989)
{{lang|pt-BR|Alcoólicas}} (Alcoholics). São Paulo: Massao Ohno (1990)
{{lang|pt-BR|Bufólicas}}. São Paulo: Massao Ohno (1992)
{{lang|pt-BR|Do desejo}} (Of Desire). Campinas: Pontes (1992)
{{lang|pt-BR|Cantares do sem nome e de partidas}} (Songs of the Nameless and of Departures). São Paulo: Massao Ohno (1995)
{{lang|pt-BR|Do amor}} (Of Love). São Paulo: Edith Arnhold/Massao Ohno (1999)

=Prose fiction=

{{lang|pt-BR|Fluxo-floema}}. São Paulo: Perspectiva (1970) / São Paulo: Editora Globo (2001) {{ISBN|9788525036308}}
{{lang|pt-BR|Qadós}}. São Paulo: Edart (1973) / São Paulo: Editora Globo (2001) {{ISBN|9788525035431}}
{{lang|pt-BR|Ficções}} (Fictions). São Paulo: Quíron (1977)
{{lang|pt-BR|Tu não te moves de ti}} (You Don't Move from Yourself). São Paulo: Cultura (1980) / São Paulo: Editora Globo (2004) {{ISBN|9788525038531}}
{{lang|pt-BR|A obscena senhora D}} (The Obscene Miss D). São Paulo: Massao Ohno (1982) / São Paulo: Editora Globo (2001) {{ISBN|9788525034649}}. English translation: The Obscene Madame D. Callicoon: Nightboat (2012)
{{lang|pt-BR|Com meus olhos de cão e outras novelas}} (With My Dog Eyes and Other Novels). São Paulo: Brasilense (1986) / São Paulo: Editora Globo (2012) {{ISBN|9788525041005}}. English translation: With My Dog-Eyes. New York City: Melville House (2014)
{{lang|pt-BR|O caderno rosa de Lori Lamby}} (Lori Lamby's Pink Notebook). São Paulo: Massao Ohno (1990)
{{lang|pt-BR|Contos d'escárnio: Textos grotescos}} (Tales of Mockery: Grotesque Texts). São Paulo: Siciliano, (1990) / São Paulo: Editora Globo (2001) {{ISBN|9788525036193}}
{{lang|pt-BR|Cartas de um sedutor}}. São Paulo: Paulicéia (1991) / São Paulo: Editora Globo (2001) {{ISBN|9788525034915}}. English translation: Letters from a Seducer: Callicoon: Nightboat (2012)
{{lang|pt-BR|Rútilo nada}}. Campinas: Pontes (1993) / São Paulo: Editora Globo (2003) {{ISBN|9788525036957}}
{{lang|pt-BR|Estar sendo. Ter sido}} (Being. Having Been). São Paulo: Nankin (1997) / São Paulo: Editora Globo (2006) {{ISBN|8525041882}}
{{lang|pt-BR|Cascos e carícias: crônicas reunidas}} (Hooves and Caresses: Collected Chronicles). São Paulo: Nankin (1998)

=Theater=

{{lang|pt-BR|A empresa (A possessa)}} (The Business (the Possessed)) (1967){{Efn|name=Theater|Published as part of {{lang|pt-BR|Teatro completo}} (Complete Theater), São Paulo: Globo Livros, 2008.}}
{{lang|pt-BR|O rato no muro}} (The Rat in the Wall) (1967){{Efn|name=Theater}}
{{lang|pt-BR|O visitante}} (The Visitor) (1968){{Efn|name=Theater}}
{{lang|pt-BR|Auto da barca de Camiri}} (Camiri's Boat) (1968){{Efn|name=Theater}}
{{lang|pt-BR|O novo sistema}} (The New System) (1968){{Efn|name=Theater}}
{{lang|pt-BR|Aves da noite}} (Night Birds) (1968){{Efn|name=Theater}}
{{lang|pt-BR|O verdugo}} (The Headsman) (1969){{Efn|name=Theater}}
{{lang|pt-BR|A morte de patriarca}} (The Death of the Patriarch) (1969){{Efn|name=Theater}}