Duras: The North China Lover (cloth) - Hardcover

Duras, Marguerite

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1565840186 ISBN 13: 9781565840188

Publisher: The New Press, 1992

Synopsis

Far more daring and truthful than any of her other novels, The North China Lover is a fascinating retelling of the dramatic experiences of Duras’s adolescence that shaped her most famous work. Initially conceived as notes toward a screenplay for The Lover, this later novel, written toward the end of her life, emphasizes the tougher aspects of her youth in Indochina and possesses the intimate feel of a documentary.

Both shocking and enthralling, the story Duras tells is “so powerfully imagined (or remembered) that it . . . lingers like a strong perfume” (Publishers Weekly). Hailed by the French critics as a return to “the Duras of the great books and the great days,” it is a mature and complex rendering of a formative period in the author’s life.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Hailed in France as "an incomparable pleasure", Marguerite Duras's newest novel is a fascinating retelling of the dramatic experiences of her adolescence that have shaped her work. Far more daring and truthful than any book she has written before, it emphasizes the tough realities of her youth in Indochina and reveals much that her earlier works concealed. An instant number-one bestseller in France, The North China Lover both shocks and entrances its readers. Initially written as notes toward a filmscript for The Lover, the book has the grainy, filmic qualities of a documentary. Gone are the romantic and nostalgic readings of the past. Here are the humiliations and passions of the poverty-ridden world in which Duras grew up: the intense sexuality of the young women who were her friends and classmates, a group of adolescents impatient for the experiences of adulthood while still caught up in the conflicts of childhood. For all who have admired Duras's previous work, here is an exciting and unexpected reading of her past - a work the French critics called a return to "the Duras of the great books and the great days".

About the Author:

Marguerite Duras (1914–1996) was one of France’s most important literary figures. She is the author of such acclaimed novels as The Lover, The Ravishing of Lol Stein, and The Sailor from Gibraltar and wrote the screenplay for Hiroshima Mon Amour. The New Press has published translations of her books The North China Lover, The War, and Wartime Writings.

About this edition

• Publisher: The New Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 1565840186
• ISBN 13: 9781565840188
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 238