Yourcenar, Marguerite, 1903-87, French writer, b. Belgium as Marguerite de Crayencour. The first woman elected (1980) to the prestigious French Academy, Yourcenar moved to the United States in 1939, became an American citizen in 1947, and spent much of her life on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Combining vast erudition with clarity and a classical sense of form, her novelistic reconstructions of historical eras and people have reached a wide audience. Her many works include Memoirs of Hadrian (1951, tr. 1954), a fictionalized autobiography of the Roman emperor that is probably her finest book; The Abyss (1968, tr. 1976), set in 16th-century Flanders; and Le Labyrinthe du monde (3 vol., 1974-88), a historical memoir of her own family.

Blessington, Marguerite, countess of, 1789-1849, English author and famous beauty, b. Ireland. At the age of 14 she was forced by her father into marriage with Capt. Maurice St. Leger Farmer, a sadist who abused her. She soon left him and after his death married (1818) the earl of Blessington. In 1822 she began a liaison with Count D'Orsay (husband of her stepdaughter), and with him, after Blessington's death, set up a brilliant salon at Gore House, Kensington. To meet expenses she wrote a number of popular novels. Her most successful work, however, is her graphic journal of her Conversations with Lord Byron (1834).

Duras, Marguerite, 1914-96, French author, b. Gia Dinh, Indochina (now Vietnam). Usually grouped with the exponents of the nouveau roman [new novel] (see French literature), Duras abandoned many of the conventions of the novel form. Her novels usually mix themes of eroticism and death, often treating existential moments in people's lives. Avoiding the use of descriptive passages, she had her characters reveal themselves through what they say—and do not say. Duras's experience as a film writer—she wrote the screenplay for Alain Resnais's Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), among many others—and as a director significantly influenced her tersely simple narrative technique. She also wrote a number of plays.

Duras wrote more than 70 novels, many of which have been made into films and most of which deal unsentimentally with love, despair, and sexual passion. They include Un Barrage contre le Pacifique (1950; tr. The Sea Wall, 1952), Le Marin de Gibraltar (1952; tr. The Sailor from Gibraltar, 1966), Moderato cantabile (1958; tr. 1960), 10:30 du soir en été (1960; tr. 10:30 on a Summer Night, 1965), Détruire, dit-elle (1969; tr. Destroy, She Said, 1970), and Emily L. (1987; tr. 1989). Her mysterious and sensual semiautobiographical novel L'Amant (1984; tr. The Lover, 1985), an international bestseller, was her first work of fiction to reach a large popular audience. It was followed by another partial roman à clef that retells the same story, L'Amant de la Chine du Nord (1991; tr. The North Chinese Lover, 1992).

Marguerite. For French women thus named, use Margaret.

marguerite: see daisy.

orig. Marguerite de Crayencour

(born June 8, 1903, Brussels, Belg.—died Dec. 17, 1987, Northeast Harbor, Maine, U.S.) Belgian-born French-U.S. novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Independently wealthy after her father's death, she led a nomadic life until World War II, when she settled in the U.S. with the American woman who would be her lifelong companion and translator. Her works are noted for their rigorously classical style, their erudition, and their psychological subtlety. Her masterpiece is Memoirs of Hadrian (1951), a historical novel of the 2nd-century Roman Empire. Other works include the novels Coup de grâce (1939) and The Abyss (1968), Oriental Tales (1938), and the prose poem “Fires” (1936). In 1980 she became the first woman in history to be elected to the Académie Française.

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orig. Marguerite de Crayencour

(born June 8, 1903, Brussels, Belg.—died Dec. 17, 1987, Northeast Harbor, Maine, U.S.) Belgian-born French-U.S. novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Independently wealthy after her father's death, she led a nomadic life until World War II, when she settled in the U.S. with the American woman who would be her lifelong companion and translator. Her works are noted for their rigorously classical style, their erudition, and their psychological subtlety. Her masterpiece is Memoirs of Hadrian (1951), a historical novel of the 2nd-century Roman Empire. Other works include the novels Coup de grâce (1939) and The Abyss (1968), Oriental Tales (1938), and the prose poem “Fires” (1936). In 1980 she became the first woman in history to be elected to the Académie Française.

Learn more about Yourcenar, Marguerite with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Marguerite Donnadieu

(born April 4, 1914, Gia Dinh, Cochinchina—died March 3, 1996, Paris, France) French novelist, playwright, film director, and screenwriter. Indochina was the setting for Duras's first successful novel, The Sea Wall (1950). Her writing grew increasingly minimal and abstract, and she is sometimes associated with the nouveau roman (“new novel”) movement. Perhaps her best-known novel is the semiautobiographical The Lover (1984, Prix Goncourt; film, 1992), about a French teenage girl's love affair with an older Chinese man; she revised this work as The North China Lover (1991). Her original screenplay for Hiroshima mon amour (1959) and her adaptation for film of her play India Song (1975) were highly acclaimed.

Learn more about Duras, Marguerite with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Marguerite Donnadieu

(born April 4, 1914, Gia Dinh, Cochinchina—died March 3, 1996, Paris, France) French novelist, playwright, film director, and screenwriter. Indochina was the setting for Duras's first successful novel, The Sea Wall (1950). Her writing grew increasingly minimal and abstract, and she is sometimes associated with the nouveau roman (“new novel”) movement. Perhaps her best-known novel is the semiautobiographical The Lover (1984, Prix Goncourt; film, 1992), about a French teenage girl's love affair with an older Chinese man; she revised this work as The North China Lover (1991). Her original screenplay for Hiroshima mon amour (1959) and her adaptation for film of her play India Song (1975) were highly acclaimed.

Learn more about Duras, Marguerite with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Marguerite is the French form of a female given name (English Margaret, Spanish Margarita) which derives from the Greek for "pearl").

Famous women named Marguerite

• Queen Marguerite de Valois, wife of Henry IV of France and Navarre
• Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, foundress of the Congregation of Notre Dame
• Marguerite Duras, French writer and film director
• Marguerite Henry, American writer
• Marguerite Long, French pianist
• Marguerite Moreau, American actress
• Marguerite Perrin, American reality television star
• Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian novelist

Other uses of Marguerite

• Marguerite, the original given name of the author Maya Angelou
• Marguerite was the name of a mare, mother of the 2nd U.S. Triple Crown Champion, Gallant Fox
• Marguerite is also the name of several flowers:
• Chrysanthemum frutescens
• Leucanthemum vulgare
• Marguretite, the name of a protective structure of the Sperm Whale, which they use to protect an individual that was wounded
• Marguerite (free shuttle), a free shuttle service offered by Stanford University
• Marguerite, a stage musical with music by Michel Legrand

Fictional characters named Marguerite

• Marguerite, the name of the heroine of Gounod's opera Faust
• Tomoe Marguerite is a character in the anime and manga My-Otome
• Marguerite St. Just, wife of the Scarlet Pimpernel