Marguerite Duras by Micheline Tison-Braun (review)

L ’bsPRiT C réateur société égalitaire ou chrétienne... basée sur ¡’amour du prochain, l’entraide et la compré­ hension mutuelle” (p. 155). Mutually contradictory, these hypotheses are not supported by Guers-Villate’s own analyses of specific texts and her frequent contention that Duras’ experience of writing is radically discontinuous with any fixed or stable referent. However, such lapses are sporadic and undeveloped and do not seriously detract from the importance and usefulness of this book (which contains a basic, well-chosen bibliography) for an understanding of the continuities and discontinuities of Duras’ esthetic development. J osephine D iam ond Rutgers University Micheline Tison-Braun. M arguerite D uras. Amsterdam: Collection Monographique Rodopi en Littérature Française Contemporaine, 1985. Pp. 80. $9.25. As the series title indicates, Professor Tison-Braun’s study is a monograph and must therefore conform to certain restrictions. Within the confines of this format, she has suc­ ceeded in presenting the reader with a thought-provoking discussion of a number of impor­ tant works by Marguerite Duras written before 1980. Her analyses, ranging from the early novels, such as Un barrage contre le Pacifique and La Vie tranquille, to such later texts as L ’Eté 80, although thematic in nature, are informed by her broad knowledge of contem­ porary writers and French literary history in general. For those coming to the works of Duras for the first time, Tison-Braun’s work provides many concise, yet interesting syn­ theses of Duras’ best known texts of the period treated: Moderato cantabile, Le ViceConsul , Le Ravissement de Loi V. Stein, L ’Amour. Her treatment of these works centers primarily on their contents however, and, while there is some discussion of stylistic ele­ ments, it is very brief. This is regrettable, considering the importance of style in Duras’ fic­ tions which, indeed, contributes largely to the unique quality of her écriture. One also regrets, and this is not at all a criticism of this monograph since it has only to do with the date of its completion (1980) and its publication (1985), that it does not—indeed cannot—deal with the important works of Duras published during the past decade: L ’Homme assis dans le couloir (1980), Agatha (1981), La Maladie de la mort and the play, Savannah Bay (1982, 1983), L ’Amant (1984), Les Yeux bleus cheveux noirs (1986), Emily L. (1987). Certainly, had these texts already appeared when Professor Tison-Braun under­ took her study, she would have very ably analyzed the direction that Duras’ work was tak­ ing and perhaps even have altered her discussion of the principal trends found therein. It might also have allowed her to place what she considers a brief incursion on the part of Duras into feminist issues, without making the value judgments that weaken her discussion of these matters (see pp. 67-68 of her study). One wishes also that she had enlarged upon the very brief considerations of such ele­ ments in the works of Duras as the latter’s syntax, the use of voice(s), mythological pat­ terns, the notion of “envoûtement”... AUof these are highly interesting, but leave one with the desire for a more in-depth treatment. Of course, in part, this is again the result of the limits imposed by a monograph and by the aim of the series which emphasizes “concision and synthesis” and, therefore, does not allow for the development of what are, probably, more challenging inquiries. As it stands, however, Tison-Braun’s study is a useful and intelligent introduction to a certain portion of Duras’ work, designed more for the general reader than the specialist and, as such, corresponds to the goal it undoubtedly set out to attain. E rika O strovsky New York University 98 S p r in g 1990 ...