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minalouise's review
Wanted to read this because I both adore and am somewhat terrified by Duras. In a sense this humanised her— and I appreciate when my adoration is entangled in humanness.
In the preface the author writes that Marguerite had hidden certain aspects of her life, and also didn’t want anyone but herself to write about her life. In ways she was a deeply private person, and nosiness allows us to think we have a right to read about a life she didn’t want to share.
To me she feels like a person very entitled to her own self, and the selves she’s created through her life. In this book occasionally described as lies, but I think it was her true reality. She endured a lot of pain all through her life, and creating a distance between that isn’t creating a lie. It’s creating a more bearable life, in my opinion.
The reality of a writer who knew her written characters better in the end than friends she’d had for decades, the reality of a writer who knew herself best when she was writing— the reality of allowing herself to exist as different versions of herself and there also being ultimate truth to that.
Though I now also see Duras as someone deeply lost in certain aspects of herself (not solely bc of this book, also practicalities and suspended passion), to be more you have to let go of a core, I think?
We all have a fantasy self, a dream self— Duras made hers come alive out of will, and sometimes force. I believe there’s truth to those selves, and that she was entitled to those selves.
I enjoyed the general collections of stories and facts from Duras’ life, and even how it was written at times. But found the author’s interpretations lacking, short sighted and occasionally quite stupid. Several times having described abuse Duras endured at different parts of her life, saying she enjoyed it. Writing about the tremendous losses throughout her life, and deep pains from a hard life. I know nothing about the author, but at times it felt like she didn’t respect Duras nor like her, which is maybe disguised as being neutral (obv it is not!). Or writing as if she had an inner understanding about what Duras felt.
I might be biased in my view as I adore Duras, and this book didn’t change that. It did give me a greater understanding of what she endured throughout her life, which humanises her and makes her even more impressive to me.
However I don’t want to read biographies where the subject didn’t consent, and especially had a strong opinion against while lucid (she talked to Duras for this book while her memory had started to go, but they had been acquaintances for a very long time before- which is when Duras had said no to a biography. The author had consent and help from friends and ex lovers and partners and even Yann Andrea. But in the end I didn’t feel great about it).
In the preface the author writes that Marguerite had hidden certain aspects of her life, and also didn’t want anyone but herself to write about her life. In ways she was a deeply private person, and nosiness allows us to think we have a right to read about a life she didn’t want to share.
To me she feels like a person very entitled to her own self, and the selves she’s created through her life. In this book occasionally described as lies, but I think it was her true reality. She endured a lot of pain all through her life, and creating a distance between that isn’t creating a lie. It’s creating a more bearable life, in my opinion.
The reality of a writer who knew her written characters better in the end than friends she’d had for decades, the reality of a writer who knew herself best when she was writing— the reality of allowing herself to exist as different versions of herself and there also being ultimate truth to that.
Though I now also see Duras as someone deeply lost in certain aspects of herself (not solely bc of this book, also practicalities and suspended passion), to be more you have to let go of a core, I think?
We all have a fantasy self, a dream self— Duras made hers come alive out of will, and sometimes force. I believe there’s truth to those selves, and that she was entitled to those selves.
I enjoyed the general collections of stories and facts from Duras’ life, and even how it was written at times. But found the author’s interpretations lacking, short sighted and occasionally quite stupid. Several times having described abuse Duras endured at different parts of her life, saying she enjoyed it. Writing about the tremendous losses throughout her life, and deep pains from a hard life. I know nothing about the author, but at times it felt like she didn’t respect Duras nor like her, which is maybe disguised as being neutral (obv it is not!). Or writing as if she had an inner understanding about what Duras felt.
I might be biased in my view as I adore Duras, and this book didn’t change that. It did give me a greater understanding of what she endured throughout her life, which humanises her and makes her even more impressive to me.
However I don’t want to read biographies where the subject didn’t consent, and especially had a strong opinion against while lucid (she talked to Duras for this book while her memory had started to go, but they had been acquaintances for a very long time before- which is when Duras had said no to a biography. The author had consent and help from friends and ex lovers and partners and even Yann Andrea. But in the end I didn’t feel great about it).
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