Writing [Paperback]

Marquerite Duras (Author), Mark Polizzotti (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 1999

Marquerite Duras's theory of literature.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Duras's final work, sensitively translated from the French by Polizzotti, is both a brief theory of literature and a personal memoir. Duras (1914-96), winner of the 1984 Prix Goncourt for her novel The Lover (LJ 6/1/85) and best known to Americans for her screenplay Hiroshima mon Amour, declares that solitude is essential to her process because writing means "keeping silent . . . screaming without sounds." Throughout, Duras vividly re-creates emotional experiences?including her reactions to the death of a 21-year-old English pilot, killed by the Germans in 1944?and displays her unique, detailed perception to reveal great reverence for human life and respect for memory. An enthralling book, particularly for writers and Duras's fans. Recommended for all libraries.?Robert T. Ivey, Univ. of Memphis
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

In this very slender volume, Duras shares with us the writer's preoccupations with the distance between life and writing, and the contradiction between writing and silence. Winner of the 1984 Prix Goncourt for her novel The Lover, Duras died in 1996. She is without a doubt one of this century's great literary figures. But that haunting quality, the characteristically slow and deliberate language of her novels, translates less well when her subject is a kind of confessional of her life and work. The five short chapters that make up Writing circle around Duras's way into and out of the world. Her bare prose casts that same silence she considers fundamental to any writer: It is the price one pays for having dared go out and scream.'' At this point, one chooses to either get lost in her fantasy or bow out, because much of Duras's prose begs the point with characteristic vagueness. Whether sitting alone considering the death of a fly, or trying to capture the entire life of a young pilot in the moment of his death, Duras is convinced that the ``death of that fly has become this displacement of literature'' and that writing it ``renders it inaccessible.'' What remains is the nakedness of writing itself, and Duras hones this point into the ground. Strangely, the most poignant image of the creative act according to Duras comes in her final chapter, ``The Painting Exhibition,'' where she describes the painter at work. ``We leave him to his misfortune, to that infernal obligation that outstrips any commentary, any metaphor . . . to his own story . . . struggling in the continent of silence.'' Duras's theory of the written word would rob her life's work of the magic she has so masterfully created over a lifetime. Rereading The Lover might be the only antidote to so much discomfort. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Brookline Books/Lumen Editions (May 6, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571290532
• ISBN-13: 978-1571290533
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,487,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars literary testament/memoir explaining Duras's theory of writ, February 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Writing (Paperback)

this is the last book by Duras, as she passed away on March 4, 1996. Recommended for anyone who appreciates the spledid bareness of her late style. Her theory of writing, why she wrote, and what compells writers...fascinating, and reads like a meditation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book, June 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Writing (Paperback)

"Writing" combines elements of fictional narrative, literary theory, and conversational Q&A all in Duras's recognizable voice. It is a wonderful book allowing readers to experience both Duras's writing process and the finished outcome.

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Book, November 10, 2011

By 

Charles Bennett - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writing (Paperback)

I enjoyed this, my 4th book I've brought by her. I do have a question which I hope someone will help on. In her chapter on Rome, she refers to the Queen of Caesarea and of Samaria. Also a Roman General who conquered her country and took her to Rome. Does anyone know the identity for certain? I can't seem to nail down firmly to my own satisfaction. I would like to search out a biography on them, if any exists.

I have 4 of her books so far and have re-read each twice so far. Other than Cormac McCarthy's books, this hasn't happened for a long time.

I recommend it highly.