Marguerite Duras on Television

Some of the best-known intellectuals of twentieth-century France have warned of the dangers of television to thought, to society, and to books. However, one prominent writer and public intellectual, Marguerite Duras, made use of television as an extension of her literary project and cannily incorporated the medium into her work, anticipating the increasingly reciprocal relationship between literature and the media and the stakes of survival in both. Television provided a way for the writer to engage in issues, topics, and events that concerned the broader French public and to reach this broad audience in targeted ways.