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).

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.

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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.

Duras may refer to:

Places

• Duras, Lot-et-Garonne, a commune of the Lot-et-Garonne département in France
• Duras, Belgium, a constituent village of the commune of Sint-Truiden in the Belgian province of Limburg

People

• Duras, a Dacian king
• Marguerite Duras, the pseudonym (after the town) of Marguerite Donnadieu (1914-1996), a French writer and film director
• Madame de Duras, an 18th century French writer
• Oldřich Duras, a Czech chess International Grandmaster

Other

• Duras (grape), a red wine grape from Tarn in France
• House of Duras, in Star Trek, a formerly important House in the Klingon Empire