The Lover: Duras, Politics, and Lust
Published August 17, 2004
The semi-autobiographical work, The Lover, by Marguerite Duras, was almost not published in America. How typical, then, that years later, it remains one of the best selling books and became a widely viewed film all these years later. American publishing has largely overlooked foreign authors until they reach the pinnacle of their fame and are then picked up years later. The Lover and most of Duras’s work falls into this category, as do other books like Betty Blue and authors like Jean Echenoz, and so many others.
The Lover, set in 1920s Indochina, the somewhat autobiographical tale tells the story of a young, precocious school girl (who would be Duras) who at age 15 ½ develops her first sexual relationship with a Chinese man who is significantly older. The Asian man is in his late twenties, is wealthy, old-fashioned in many ways and for the most part, true to his culture and social mores. That he falls in love with this girl is really an anomaly, a fact which he tells her repeatedly and in many ways, seems to resent. He knows that despite his feelings, he can never marry her.
At 15 ½, it’s the crossing of a ferry on the Mekong. This is where our story begins. At age 15 ½, the young girl is crossing the Mekong on the ferry. One assumes the young girl is Duras, who was known to write what she knew, and what she knew best, it seemed, was herself. Or perhaps it’s that she knew best how to present realistically, believably, was always some projection of herself (this theme appears in almost all of Duras’s books, but the same could be said of any author, perhaps – almost all work is somewhat autobiographical).
The girl has two plaits, wears a mans hat that she rarely takes off of which she says at one point - she is never without it, that hat, she says “makes me whole, I am never without it.” She also wears a white, gauze shift that is so thin that it is almost transparent, like a slip and well-worn ballroom dancing with paste rhinestones. She looks like a young prostitute, or a very precocious young girl, depending on your point of view. She is staying with her mother and her brothers in “the horror” she says of the house. This is a girl who can’t grow up fast enough; it’s hard to tell if she is wise beyond her years or simply curious and gets herself into a situation that is beyond her control. She’s not particularly beautiful, she’s ugly beautiful, the kind of girl you look at and can’t decide if she is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen or the ugliest. Duras’s work is always a series of contradictions – here we have youth and purity combined with a wizened woman’s weary manner.
- The Lover: Duras, Politics, and Lust
- Published: August 17, 2004
- Type: Review
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Romantic, Video: Foreign Language, Video: Drama, Video: Art House, Books: Women, Books: Literature and Fiction, Books: Biography
- Writer: Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti
- Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti's BC Writer page
- Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Eric - absolutely right. it's all shades of grey, really. Part of me wants so much to believe in Absolutes - you know, Right/Wrong - but it's never so simple, tho' i wish it were so. Interesting and that's a whole article|blog in itself - shades of grey are the hardest things to negotiate in this life -- for me anyway.
~~~srp
another lesson from this: perky breasts are dangerous
thanks for restating everything you could learn from just reading the book.
yeah, well, you know some people hadn't read the book, and since i published Duras's LAST BOOK before she died when i was a book publisher, i felt i had something to say. Thing is, nobody made you read it, and if you know so much, then go write your own review. I never said this was my best, but then, perhaps you hadn't seen other work and even if you had, you'd have some pithy comment about that too.
Since you seem to know so much, how about you sign up and educate all of us, because really, we are all just hanging on your every word and awaiting your wisdom, and fuck, just because i corresponded with Duras and she allowe dme to publish her book and my husband published her first (uh, that would be this one reviewed here), you're right. What the hell would i know. That said, i could have done a much better job but it was an off day,
but as i said; i'm assuming you never have off days since you so freely attack the work of others, so i'm waiting, practically shaking with anticipation, to read your forthcoming reviews.
Line 'em up. Send us the links. I'm sure all of us here at Blogcritics have a great deal to learn from a brain like you.
Really -- . Not kidding. Educate us. After all, we're all stupid here.
Just ask Eric - i'm sure he'll agree. Right?
Thanks though, for such a clever, thoughtful, and very brave comment!
Aren't you too clever by half.
wow! sadi channels dawn olsen!!
who woulda thunk it?
;-)
The presentation of a 15 year old child having "sexual power" dovetails perfectly with the delusions of pedaphiles. The rapist's "she really wanted it" argument shows up again and again, regardless of whether the victim is 5 years old, or 15, or 95. Look at the cover photo for the film. How can you look at a pathetic, deranged adult man checking out a child's ass and not want to stop him?
The Lover was a very powerful book. There's a line either from the book or from the movie saying, "In the dessert that was the rest of their lives." I was was particularly moved by that. It's in the movie. I looked for it in the book but couldn't find it. Is it there, Sadi? Where?
When the book came out, a friend gave me a copy and said that I reminded her of the girl in the book. Not that I was some guy's mistress, but I dressed kind of like that and I grew up in an exotic place where whites were a minority . . .
Sadi, if you were Margarite Duras's publisher, would you please tell us about that. I want to know about it.
hey sadi,
thanks for the review it was really good. i havent actually seen the movie but it seems pretty close to the novel. i have to do a presentation on it (the novel) for uni and needed some background cos im pretty slack and havent thought 2 much about it. anyway, very thought provoking. the theme of my unit is 'difference and desire' and your review really helped me realise how that plays in the novel. top stuff,
thanks again, Anna
hi there:
I"m not sure where the exact line you speak of is, probably toward the end of the book would be my guess, but you can, i believe, search the book on Amazon for specific phrases, so try that.
AS for publishing Duras: Yes, i published her very last book (i believe this was her last according to the agent who represented it, a very reputable agent) and the book is entitled simply "Writing" or "Ecrire" in French. It was translated by Mark Polizzotti (my husband) and published by Lumen Editions, which was my publishing imprint that i ran for years when i worked in book publishing (he still does: i'm in IT but still on the fringe of books, since i've done it for so long...)
Mark suggested that Random House publish The Lover when he read it in France and he saved all of his notes back and forth with the editors. They "did not think an American audience would accept this book" or something like that (not a direct quote, but i do have the correspondence back and forth just for a lark).
How funny, then, that we both, as editors, published Duras, wound up getting married and were both told that Duras would not sell in America. And here we are... her books have done very well and The Lover is a classic among a certain group of people anyway ~~ I could go on, but don't wish to bore others w/ this history of mine etc etc. Maybe one day i'll write it all up in a memoir no one will buy, lol...
Be well,
Sadi
the earlier points about pedophelia, that i did not see until now are well-taken. You make a valid point andI can't address it really because The Lover was based, as I understand it, on Duras's life experience, which she often drew on for her fiction - so it's likely partially anyway, a true story of her youth. It's hard to know with her. So this doesn't make it okay but if she wants to write about her life then what can i say about that other than to review the work and that's that.... but i get your point.
thanks,
s.r.p.
now that this page has gone necro...
quoi?
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very nuanced and exceptional review - life can be very complicated and pretending it isn't so doesn't change it