Marguerite Duras: General Thread

The third quarter is dedicated to Marguerite Duras (1914–1996).

I have pretty much failed at finding time for these group reads thus far, but I'm very interested in trying Duras. I am not familiar with any of her works. Any suggestions on where to begin?

#2 - I've read nine of her novels (some are quite short). There are several ways you could approach Duras's work.

Her most famous novel is The Lover, so you could start there to be sure not to miss it. But it was only one of three autobiographical novels that tell of her teenage love affair in Indochina but in dramatically different ways:

The Sea Wall (1950)
The Lover (1984)
The North China Lover (1991)

An even quicker way of exploring the variety in her writing is the collection Four Novels.

If you want to sample her nouveau roman style, the linked pair of novels The Ravishing of Lol Stein and The Vice-Consul is very good.

Thanks! I think I'll begin with The Lover, but I'm very interested in a lot of the works you mentioned.

The Sea Wall is wonderful.

I am beginning to love this place and you people. You are all obsessed. Obsessed, I say!

I just received L'amour, which doesn't touchstone but here is a link, from my Open Letter subscription, apparently the first English translation. I'll probably start with that, maybe by the weekend when I'll probably finish another book I'm reading. I also have The Lover to read.

I have The North Chinese Lover to read but I'm currently enraptured in a Dumas novel.

I was planning to completely skip Duras for no better reason than the fact that I'm awfully predjudiced against her. Then this morning I walked past a pile of books that were left for taking on a window-sill, and in it I found The Lover. Is that destiny or what?!
I scooped it up and plan to read it after I've finished my current book. On the plus side, it's really small so even if I end up not liking it it will not be a big problem.