Hi, I'm Michael Silverblatt. Thanks for tuning in to Bookworm. Some of our most exciting storytellers

share their work orally, and that's the kind of work you can hear on KCRW's Unfictional.

Intimate stories, cleverly made documentaries produced all around the world by some of the most talented radio producers we have.

Check out on Fictional. You can find it on KCRW's iTunes page.

Funds for Bookworm are provided in part by Lannin Foundation. Boots.

Where would we be without boos?

Where would we be without good?

No, Zintuberg.

It's a rhetorical question, sir.

But where would we be without books?

From KCRW and KCRW.com, I'm Michael Silverblatt, and this is Bookworm.

Today my guest is Vendelavita, a name I love to say, I'll say it again,

Vendalavita. Her book is called The Divers Clothes Lie Empty, and it's a fascinating book.

It takes some of the themes in her previous books, which are books about the identity of women

and how to establish oneself in the world.

These are very interesting books because it makes this process mysterious and vibrant

and in this book very specifically comic as well.

And the book begins with a quote from the Brazilian writer Carisse Lespector,

which I think is a very good introduction to the subject matter of the book. Would you read it for us?

Sure, Michael. The only ones who could depart this civilization were those whose special role is to depart it.

A scientist is given leave.

A priest is given permission.

...