The Malady of Death [Paperback]

Marguerite Duras (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 1994

A man hires a woman to spend several weeks with him by the sea. The woman is no one in particular, a "she," a warm, moist body with a beating heart-the enigma of Other. Skilled in the mechanics of sex, he desires through her to penetrate a different mystery: he wants to learn love. It isn't a matter of will, she tells him. Still, he wants to learn to try . . .This beautifully wrought erotic novel is an extended haiku on the meaning of love, "perhaps a sudden lapse in the logic of the universe," and of its absence, "the malady of death." "The whole tragedy of the inability to love is in this work, thanks to Duras' unparalleled art of reinventing the most familiar words, of weighing their meaning." - Le Monde; "Deceptively simple and Racinian in its purity, condensed to the essential." - Translation Review.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Duras's brief text describes a liaison in which "you" pay a woman to spend several nights with you. When eventually "you ask if she thinks anyone could love you," she replies "No, not possibly." You suffer, it seems, from the "malady of death." One morning "she isn't there anymore," and the affair ends. At 5000 words this coolly erotic fragment reads less like a novel than a treatmenta concluding note, in fact, discusses how it might be staged or filmed. It appeared in France before the publication of Duras's novel The Lover ( LJ 6/1/85) and presumably owes its translation to that work's well-deserved success here. For complete collections of modern literature. Grove Koger, Boise P.L., Id .
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (January 13, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802130364
• ISBN-13: 978-0802130365
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #300,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It will make you question., September 18, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Malady of Death (Paperback)

This is a book for those that want to understand the pain of the human soul. It tells a story of a person that had died inside, but still continues to exist in the world of the living. He desperately tries to love in order to live again, but fails, because he is ill. His illness has a name, it is called - "The Malady of Death". I assure you, this is not just another french book. This book is written by Marguerite Duras. If you have ever read anything of hers, you would know what I mean. She writes with thoughts instead of sentences, and that alone captivates reader's imagination. This particular creation will inevitably leave a trace in your memory, because her work is not only unforgetable, it is at times disturbing. She knows the other, unknown side to the human soul, and she carries her message across skillfully. If you are one of the people that questions and desires to understand - this is a book for you. Every word has it's place, every sentence has it's mission. Indulge.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully hypontic, January 13, 2005

By 

wolfgang731 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Malady of Death (Paperback)

I picked up "Malady of Death" in a bargain bin at Waldenbooks many years ago. Having heard a great deal about "The Lover," also by Duras, I decided that at a mere 60+ pages and at a ridiculously low price, there was little to lose. I found myself reading it and re-reading it. There isn't much to the story, nor is it much of one. However, this is not so much a case of what is written as much as how it is written. Duras language is extremely poetic with an ever present sense of longing and sorrow. The lyrical quality in her writing is absolutely magical. The simple story of someone paying for companionship, intimacy and, ultimately, sex because of his inability to love is hardly a groundbreaking premise, but, again, its worth and beauty lie in how it is communicated and the sensation you experience in its wake. Very beautiful, indeed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Intriguing Story, April 6, 2004

By 

Scott Hercher (Scranton, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Malady of Death (Paperback)

Hmmm. One could write a review longer than the book, it seems; I wonder if that would miss the point. I suppose one could impose a number of interpretations upon this very brief novel, but I though of it as a rather literal story. A very lonely and probably shy man pays a woman to spend several nights with him to see if he can ever love or be loved. Sadly, the answer is no. And then she is gone. His effort to exert and enforce control proves to be impotent. Even though he won't even allow her to voice her pleasure - why? - she seems to feelo only a reserved pity for him; not anger, hatred, resentment, fear, or any other emotion I would expect a woman in her position to feel. Such is his own powerlessness, his malady of death. This is an excellent book which, yes, can be read in the book store without spending any money. Shame on you for doing that, and not supporting such inquisitive literature, and giving yourself the opportunity to re-read and study the text.