The Lover, Wartime Notebooks, Practicalities
Introduction by Rachel Kushner
A hardcover omnibus edition of the French writer's most famous novel—the basis for the film Memoir of War—alongside her fascinating wartime writings and a collection of intimate autobiographical essays.
Marguerite Duras was one of the leading intellectuals and novelists of postwar France, but her wartime writings were not published in full until after her death. The Wartime Notebooks trace Duras's formative experiences—including her difficult childhood in Indochina and her harrowing wait for her husband's return from Nazi internment—revealing the personal history behind her bestselling novels. The Lover is the best known of these; set in prewar Indochina, its haunting tale of a tumultuous affair between an adolescent French girl and her wealthy Chinese lover is based on her own life. In spare…
One of France's most important literary figures, MARGUERITE DURAS is best known in the United States for her novel The Lover, and for her brilliant film script Hiroshima, Mon Amour. She is also the author of many other acclaimed novels (The Ravishing of Lol Stein) and screenplays (Détruire, dit-elle). Born in Saigon in 1914 and died in Paris in 1996.