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The Lover

By Marguerite Duras Barbara Bray Maxine Hong Kingston
The Lover Set in the prewar Indochina of Marguerite Duras s childhood this is the haunting tale of a tumultuous affair between an adolescent French girl and her Chinese lover In spare yet luminous prose Duras

  • Title: The Lover
  • Author: Marguerite Duras Barbara Bray Maxine Hong Kingston
  • ISBN: 9780375700521
  • Page: 389
  • Format: Paperback

    • Set in the prewar Indochina of Marguerite Duras s childhood, this is the haunting tale of a tumultuous affair between an adolescent French girl and her Chinese lover In spare yet luminous prose, Duras evokes life on the margins of Saigon in the waning days of France s colonial empire, and its representation in the passionate relationship between two unforgettable outcastsSet in the prewar Indochina of Marguerite Duras s childhood, this is the haunting tale of a tumultuous affair between an adolescent French girl and her Chinese lover In spare yet luminous prose, Duras evokes life on the margins of Saigon in the waning days of France s colonial empire, and its representation in the passionate relationship between two unforgettable outcasts.

    • ☆ The Lover ↠ Marguerite Duras Barbara Bray Maxine Hong Kingston
      389 Marguerite Duras Barbara Bray Maxine Hong Kingston
    The Lover

    About Author

    1. Marguerite Duras Barbara Bray Maxine Hong Kingston says:
      Marguerite Donnadieu, better known as Marguerite Duras pronounced ma g it dy as in French April 4, 1914 March 3, 1996 was a French writer and film director.She was born at Gia Dinh, near Saigon, French Indochina now Vietnam , after her parents responded to a campaign by the French government encouraging people to work in the colony.Marguerite s father fell ill soon after their arrival, and returned to France, where he died After his death, her mother, a teacher, remained in Indochina with her three children The family lived in relative poverty after a bad investment in an isolated property and area of farmland in Cambodia t te de pisse The difficult life that the family experienced during this period was highly influential on Marguerite s later work.At 17, Marguerite went to France, her parents native country, where she began studying for a degree in mathematics This she soon abandoned to concentrate on political sciences, and then law After completing her studies, she became an active member of the PCF the French Communist Party and was engaged in the resistance.In 1943 she changed her surname to Duras for Duras, the name of a village in the Lot et Garonne d partement, where her father s house was located.She is the author of a great many novels, plays, films, interviews and short narratives, including her best selling, apparently autobiographical work L Amant 1984 , translated into English as The Lover This text won the Goncourt prize in 1984 The story of her adolescence also appears in three other forms The Sea Wall, Eden Cinema and The North China Lover A film version of The Lover, produced by Claude Berri, was released to great success in 1992.Other major works include Moderato Cantabile, also made into a film of the same name, Le Ravissement de Lol V Stein, and her film India Song She was also the screenwriter of the 1959 French film Hiroshima mon amour, which was directed by Alain Resnais.Duras s early novels were fairly conventional in form their romanticism was criticised by fellow writer Raymond Queneau however, with Moderato Cantabile she became experimental, paring down her texts to give ever increasing importance to what was not said She was associated with the Nouveau roman French literary movement, although did not definitively belong to any group Her films are also experimental in form, most eschewing synch sound, using voice over to allude to, rather than tell, a story over images whose relation to what is said may be or less tangential.Marguerite s adult life was somewhat difficult, despite her success as a writer, and she was known for her periods of alcoholism She died in Paris, aged 82 from throat cancer and is interred in the Cimeti re du Montparnasse Her tomb is marked simply MD.From

    Comment 920 on “The Lover”

    1. Jeffrey Keeten says:
      AWARDED THE 1984 PRIX GONCOURT The story of my life doesn t exist Does not exist There s never any centre to it No path, no line There are great spaces where you pretend there used to be someone, but it s not true, there was no one The young Marguerite DurasShe has pretty hair, copper hair that spools down her back in waves of alluring movement People always comment on how beautiful her hair is which she interprets to mean that they don t find her pretty She cuts her hair off She wears what is l [...]
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    2. Lizzy says:
      I opened the first page of Marguerite Duras The Lover, and there she was, the girl with no name with all her ancient reminiscences I heard her voice as if it were inside my head, Very early in my life it was too late It was already too late when I was eighteen How did you get there, my friend Or should I call you my sister, since from the beginning I discovered we shared anguishes and most certainly a great multitude of passions and dreams We both were introduced to this world by tortured mother [...]
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    3. Dolors says:
      Who is L amant The characters in this story are nameless A puzzle of personal pronouns draws an anonymous canvas that perspires with alienation and the dense humidity of a foreign land, that mourns the loss of youth and innocence, that invokes the image of photographs never taken, the sound of words never uttered and the mirage of a future that never existed Only the condensed ardour that clouds up the windows of a small hotel room, where two slippery bodies abandon themselves to contorting pass [...]
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    4. karen says:
      i found myself utterly muted by this book, which is problematic because the book club meets this friday, and they aren t going to be so dazzled by my bruschetta that i can get away with just hiding behind the tiny jewess and drinking their wine so i have to think of something consulting the reading group handbook by rachel w jacobsohn, bought for my final school assignment, i learn how to think about literature characters and story line young french girl, older chinese man falling into bed and c [...]
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    5. Ian "Marvin" Graye says:
      DesireThe first time ever I saw your face was on the ferry.I had my head buried in a copy of the South China Morning Post My father had said, if I read it every day, I would learn about the world around us, and his boy would become a man Only then would I be ready to take over the family business after him.He was right, in his way I was thin and soft and na ve, even though I had just returned from two years in Paris I was still a boy, at 28 I m sure I would have continued as a boy, unless I had [...]
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    6. StevenGodin says:
      A world away from the intelligence insulting and glorified trash of E L James, Marguerite Duras has written a sparse, minimal and painfully sad erotic love story that never gets drawn into the realms of romantic fantasy.And to deeply appreciate The Lover , it needs to be looked at from the perspective of Duras herself Pen was put to paper when she was 70, it s predominantly all about looking back on memories past, and I say it s a painful read, painful in respects to nostalgia, as nostalgia form [...]
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    7. ميقات الراجحي says:
      Prix Goncourt 1984 Who read novels like Les Mis rables, Camille The Lady of the Camellias, The Outsider and The Little Prince 126 twitter MeqatA status 947
      Reply

    8. Vessey says:
      Desire Is it pleasure or pain Can and should we try to control it To trust it To understand it Do we shape our desires or do they shape us What part of us is desire Is it the purest and deepest aspect of human nature Where does it come from Can a desire on its own be vile or virtuous or only actions are bound to be judged How much do we know about our desires and where do they lead us What brings two people together What brings together a French girl and Chinese man twelve years older than her S [...]
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    9. Praj says:
      Dearest Marguerite,I know it is awfully late now, to write to you I could not resist though I thought about you the other day as her eyes scanned the Chinese gentleman for the first time, on the ferry to Mekong The demure young features veiled under a mannish hat, gave away precocious impression of a 15 year old girl as he offered her a cigarette The statuesque Chinaman who exuded charm and eloquence was besotted by her as she was by him He was to be her lover an escape from the abhorrent and im [...]
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    10. Samadrita says:
      Something dark and deeply unsettling simmers angrily beneath the surface of this narrative This something becomes so potent a force, arousing fear and feelings of disgust in the reader, that one is often tempted to abandon reading and save oneself from all the unpleasantness Duras shoves right in the reader s face without inhibitions The Lover is a brutally honest attempt at reconciliation with the past, irrespective of how much hurt and damage it may have caused It is a tale of Marguerite Duras [...]
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    11. Duane says:
      When I picked this book up I was drawn to the haunting picture of the girl on the cover, which turns out to be Marguerite Duras, the author After reading I m thinking, I can t believe this book is not prominent in the mainstream of modern literature It s a French novel, beautifully written, and set in early 20th century French Colonial Indochina, primarily Vietnam It s the story of a 15 year old French girl and her affair with an older man, a wealthy Chinese The girl is an outcast in her own dy [...]
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    12. Aubrey says:
      The light fell from the sky in cataracts of pure transparency, in torrents of silence and immobility The air was blue, you could hold it in your hand Blue The sky was the continual throbbing of the brilliance of the light The night lit up everything, all the country on either bank of the river as far as the eye could reach Every night was different, each one had a name as long as it lasted Their sound was that of the dogs, the country dogs baying at mystery They answered one another from village [...]
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    13. Ahmad Sharabiani says:
      252 L Amant The Lover, Marguerite DurasThe Lover French L Amant is an autobiographical novel by Marguerite Duras, published in 1984 by Les ditions de Minuit It has been translated to 43 languages and was awarded the 1984 Prix Goncourt It was adapted to film in 1992 as The Lover Set against the backdrop of French colonial Vietnam, The Lover reveals the intimacies and intricacies of a clandestine romance between a pubescent girl from a financially strapped French family and an older, wealthy Chine [...]
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    14. Sue says:
      Now I know why several friends have mentioned that this book has special meaning for them I ve never had a reading experience quite like this A woman writing from her older years about her teenage experiences in Viet Nam with her Chinese lover, but also with her family And also of her experience of Viet Nam itself the natural world, the skies and trees and people, and customs both strange and familiar The book is an experiential wonder, slipping between past and present, the concrete observation [...]
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    15. Linda Wells says:
      Marguerite Duras has written the remarkable story of her childhood love affair with a wealthy older man, who happened to be Chinese Their tumultuous love affair took place in pre war Saigon in 1929 The book is written with exquisite language expressing perfectly the powerful emotions of the innocent girl as she experiences first love with an exotic and loving older man The young French girl faces disgrace on many levels She is no longer respected because of the illicit affair the fact that she i [...]
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    16. Manny says:
      L Amant looks simple on the surface Marguerite Duras, about 70 when she wrote it, tells you about her first affair, with a rich Chinese man She was a fifteen year old girl in colonial era Vietnam, he was a dozen years older Her family was desperately poor Her mentally ill mother tacitly condoned the relationship Marguerite s lover was generous, and they needed the money Then she screamed at her daughter and beat her The language is plain, unadorned and impersonal, stripped to its bare essentials [...]
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    17. Fabian says:
      A novella must ALWAYS make a deep impact Hell, the writer did not think that was necessary so whatever is there MUST be genius The Lover is heartfelt, autobiographical, strange The titular Chinese man is not even the focus it is the brother and how his selfishness dooms the entire family L amant is about two people coming together in lust love for only a moment in solice or absolution I like adult books but this one has the voice of a single victim in a long, sad tradition of victims Lose class [...]
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    18. Robin says:
      This is a thin novella, but do not expect an easy read Though translated from the original French, you will experience an almost immediate halt, like you are reading something in a different language And you are It is the language of dreams It is also the language of recollection It does not flow in a typical fashion it dips you in a moment then pulls you out just as you are getting used to the temperature of the water It plunges you into another time and place, emoting a feeling out of context [...]
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    19. K.D. Absolutely says:
      Probably the most famous among the many brilliant works of Marguerite Duras 1914 1996 , The Lover French L Amant is based on her actual experience while living in Vietnam during her teen years Published in 1984, this autobiographical novel has been translated to 43 languages, awarded the 1984 Prix Goncourt and was turned into a movie in 1992 starring Jane March as the 15 1 2 y o French girl Duras and Tony Leung as 17 y o Chinese Man Yes, the novel as well as the movie where the scene above was t [...]
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    20. Mary says:
      The book is like being trapped inside a deep and disturbing dream on a stifling hot summer night A dream steeped in melancholy and half memories and you wake up choking Is it Duras writing style or the translation that creates the sparse atmosphere, the jumping around from present to memory to thoughts toI m not sure exactly what But it worked so beautifully, so tragically.Early in the book Duras writes about her mother in a way that did something to me I found myself tearing up, my heart beatin [...]
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    21. May says:
      Una novela incre ble dura, real, cercana y luchadora Me ha encantado Duras pasa a ser todo un referente.
      Reply

    22. Janet says:
      I loved the strangeness of this woman s interior, her voice, the way such a slim volume can sum up an entire life, compelling and erotic and intellectual all at once rereading it s like craving a certain great dish and you know just who has it on the menu Such assurance I like the way Duras handles the point of view It begins with an older voice, a woman looking back at her life, a particular moment of her life, and she uses the past tense, whereas when she is in the past, in the point of view o [...]
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    24. Karen❄️ says:
      A little book about an intense, illicit affair between a 15 yr old poor white girl and a wealthy 27 year old Chinese man Duras writes a very atmospheric novella hereI liked it
      Reply

    25. Ben Loory says:
      fragmented, drab, and full of unpleasant people had a nice part about a hat though.
      Reply

    26. Stela says:
      Followed by an English versionJ ai lu quelque part que Julia Kristeva avertissait les lecteurs d un quilibre mental fragile de ne pas lire les uvres de Marguerite Duras, parce qu elles pourraient les amener pr s de l exp rience de la folie Et que L amant , de ce point de vue, ne serait que l histoire de la folie gothique de la m re de la narratrice, laquelle cette derni re essaie de s chapper en effa ant son image.L hypoth se est s duisante, mais elle ne couvre qu une partie de ce mini roman don [...]
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    27. Barry Pierce says:
      In a novel that is oft compared to Nabokov s Lolita, Duras writes a beautiful autobiographical tale of love and youth The narrator recalls her youth when she, at fifteen, enters a relationship with Chinese man in his late twenties Duras prose gushes with life and verve Her narrator seems almost omnipresent as she describes her family, her youth, and her travels This is a resplendent little one sitting novel that flutters in your hands.
      Reply

    28. B the BookAddict says:
      Our first sexual relationship, whether emotive or merely physical, is so powerful that it is remembered from that very first moment until the end of our days It may serve to guide us to future lovers it may fulfil and satisfy us immediately while others may yearn for that same feeling for the rest of their lives I, too, read The Lover to be Marguerite Duras writing about herself 4
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    29. Loederkoningin says:
      It appears as though Duras has entrusted her memories to paper in an involuntary attempt to come clean in essence this is a fascinating story I realize what an intriguing experience this must have been for her As a reader however, I felt like being provided with mere glimpses of a rich and interesting biography Duras memories you must color with your own imagination You need to speculate, in order to fill in the gaps, the details the authors sparse prose does not offer If anything, this was not [...]
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    30. MJ Nicholls says:
      If you like lyrical romantic prose in staccato sentences, written in the literariest of all literary styles, this is the novella for you If you don t, this isn t the novella for you Me, I ve read this story a million times before Goodnight March.
      Reply

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