Notes on a series of lectures given by a world specialist on Marguerite Duras, including style notes, broader comments about autobiographical genre, and specific references to Duras's corpus.
Duras Lectures 1 of 5
Lecture 1
- Era public rejection of female writers. But Duras = problematic bc = critical of
colonialism + patriarchy. Also very media savvy in time when information moving
from literary journals to TV programs. Media + fashion icon. Duras’ willingness
talk about personal life = also controversial. Biography = very important in writing
and interviews so = necessary to understand her writing > but not straightforward
link > work ≠ exegesis of life > also inconsistent life story. Cultivates personal
myth > crafts public image that = sometimes taken at face value, wants control re-
ception of work. Not deal in definitives.
- Real name Donnadieu. Nom de plume = name of small village where dad was from
+ where died. Duras born 1914 in Saigon, grows up in Indochina, moved to France
1832 to study maths, changes to political science + law. Pre-war marries Robert
Atelme (writer), hosted salons. 1943 (year publishes 1st novel). Joined Resistance
cell with Mitterand (supports presidential bid), 1944 husband arrested then de-
ported, survived, wrote in L’Espèce Humaine. MD nurses him back to health, di-
vorce 1946, marries mutual friend. MD recounts return of ex-husband in La
Douleur. (eponymous story = poignant diary forgotten until 1985).
- WW2 big impact, + revelation camps > recurring figure jew in work > represents
oppressed. Commits to left wing politics > opposes FN.
- Also prompts to reconsider own colonial past. “Un barrage” > guerre Indochine
post WW2. Brutal repressions til French loss in 1954. MD stance not popular,
openly critical of colonialism > one of 1st to sign Manifeste des 121 (linked editions
de Minuit) > right of French soldiers to not fight Algerians in war of independence.
- 1947 > MD member of PCF > intense but short lived bc MD not subordinate writ-
ing to cause of party. MD = suspicious of dogma despite left wing, starts hate PCF.
L’amant compares collaboration with PCF > share blind willingness to follow or-
ders.
- Late 1950s = watershed > Moderato Canatabile > defines style, introduces recur-
ring themes. Bad married woman > obsessed story man who kills lover > attempts
to recreate with man she doesn’t know. Intense, overwhelming passion + murder
experience fascinate MD because = upheavals that transform the everyday.
- MD political activism in 60s, 70s, women’s rights > 71 > manifeste des 343 salopes
> Cixous, écriture féminine > Duras, Jenet = examples > fluid + ambiguous. MD
accepts at first. Gender seen a lot, critical focus = more conservative than subver-
sive > Winston : 2 camps of reader : Fem + desire / historical, political, social
change. Gender more popular, MD work contained in domestic, limits scope of
work. But categories not mutually exclusive.
- 1970s > writers block, makes films. Celebrity 1959 bc wrote script that won at
Cannes. Experiments then returns to writing 1980s > writes for Liberation > death
penalty, marginalised peoples, + auto-fiction. Summer 1980 > MD meets 26 year
old gay man > Yann Andréa in her books, he adopts as real name later. Spends last
16 years of life with him > spawns list of works. 1982 : detox from alcohol chroni-
cled by YA. 2 years later MD publishes L’Amant, international success. Last pub-
lishes in 1995 “C’est tout”, year before death, even prolific post coma.
- Not just follow Sartrean conception of politics as fundamental of literature. MD not
reduce literature to politics, particular type of writing shared by Beckett, Bataille >
wide currency in France. Writing = practice that subverts order > writer = alone,
close to madness + death > Sartre never takes risks, writing only vehicle for a
message. Writing should escape author’s mastery > Romantic myth of writer, po-
etic inspiration. Kant + the sublime = experience of that which lies beyond imagi-
nation that language cannot properly accommodate. Opposition beautiful/awesome
(tinged threat, gestures to infinite) > produce mix terror + bliss > we must grapple
limits understanding : writing = this for MD, literature not to edify audience like
roman de moeurs or pedagogical, not even raise consciousness of reader. Serves to
explore experiences so intense they can’t be put into words that underly Existence.
, Duras Lectures 2 of 5
- “Indisible” > murder, sex, alcoholism. Shock + ecstasy linked. Intense + disturbing
themes, violence + eroticism. Sex linked expenditure, = like writing. Duras =
drawn to murder + sex bc transgression, no rules apply.
- How express inexpressable? Central problem of Duras > Foucault > “expérience
limite” > only way to provoke reaction in reader > communicate highly charged
emotional experiences > not rely descriptive literature. Destabilises narrative con-
ventions of characterisation, narrative, plot, style.
- 1) characters behaviour ≠ realistic bc not do things for reason. Conventions under
attack with nouveau roman > MD not in same way, not rules of Nouveau roman,
not interest in psychology > not explain characters in that way, interesting because
shows failure of categories.
- 2) fascination on character + narrator because questions reliability, impartiality,
memory, not secure purchase on story. MD writing explores indescribable, shock-
ing experiences. Tension in work, = produced by that which escapes book > never
ending effort > so repetition. Entire œuvre characterised by transposed material >
vertiginous depth, multiple versions not form cohesive whole > seamless whole un-
derstanding = impossible.
- 3) ellipses + silences = M en A of inexpressible > vanishing point produces ever re-
ceding images, gaps materialise in inexpressible (lost poems), Mot-Trou > total
original world that contains all others, adequately name world despite naming be-
ing link to world. Search lacking word = dependent on its absence. Fragments
works + puts pressure on style > ≠ registers, sparse, very powerful.
Lecture 2
- Self ≠ biographical facts > just contact with raw material, not need coherent role.
Autobiography 1970s rejects idea of life as a story bc = random > narrative retro-
spectively gives meaning > life story = rhetorical device. Duras on autobiography
> self ≠ knowable + life ≠ linear progress.
- In final work, says Barrage = fave book. Written in American socialist realist way,
set in Indochina (grew up). Children in book = créole > part Euro but = lower class
> like MD herself. Title refers tragic misfortune. Mère contre mer on backdrop of
daughter + wealthy French coloniser. He = repellant but attentions = encouraged
for money > nothing happens apart gifts for privileges.
- Published 1947, same year as Sartre Lit?, = œuvre engagé bc during Indochina
war, scathing indictment colonel enlightenment project > bordel colossal, racism.
When film made 1958 > divested of political + historical dimensions > not want
deal with problem of colonialism. MD rewrites in 1977 for stage to reclaim. But not
explicitly seen as autobiographical.
- 1984 > 70 year old MD (very popular) publishes L’Amant, huge best-seller, but
never refers to self in work, just acknowledge own story that was hidden before.
- Then L’Amant de la Chine du Nord > pre-emptive against over sexual film. Self re-
flexive form of film script > more concessions (incest, = younger) + re-inscribes po-
litical aspect of film. 4 versions > multiple life narratives > writing = sharing expe-
riences, = about discovering, creating self > revisiting same terrain with ≠ tech-
niques.
- Narration does work on events >. Changes focal points. Never-ending repetition to
master painful past by packaging in shape of story > ambivalent feelings mum >
admires + loves mother, = political figure + shame / abandonment / anger because
preference eldest delinquent son which endangers 2 young children. When mother
beats naked daughter, brother encourages to beat harder, mum offers her sexually
to brother > similar scene in barrage > echoes litany at end Amant > invites to
draw parallels through repetitions. Conflicted emotions > bound to family despite
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