Psychoanalysis and the transformations of childhood in the articles and columns written by Clarice Lispector, 1952-1973

Abstract

The article examines the role of psychology in how childhood was understood during the period spanning 1950 to 1970, focusing on articles and columns Clarice Lispector published in broadly circulating magazines and newspapers from 1952 to 1973. From these writings emerges a new paradigm considering children as psychological mysteries within the domestic sphere, in which childhood is understood as the core of the adult psyche, as well as object of maternal exploration and care. This biopsychological model combines hygienic concerns related to physical health with psychological attention to childhood subjectivity. This way, the middle-class child reveals a transformation of family models and the new centrality of the individual.

Childhood; psychoanalysis; Clarice Lispector (1920-1977; mass media