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dogpro's review against another edition
5.0
Reading The Lover for the third time and I just have to admit that I could always discover something hidden charms everytime I read it
stupidpieceofhuman's review against another edition
3.0
this is my first foray into duras' works, but this anthology, i think, doesn't give proper justice to her oeuvre. however, i actually have a basic idea now how she writes and that's impressed me very much. but, this anthology underwhelmed me when i was thinking of loving this anthology completely. here are my detailed thoughts on the books selected for this anthology:
1) the lover: this book might be the most popular duras book, and this is where i got readily impressed by her writing style. in this book, duras' writing comes out of fear and lack which had its deep roots to her adolescent life. her prose is like made of various small freeze-shots. it's like some photographic memories are waiting to be a complete moving image. it's like you're a visitor to the museum of her photographic memories. it's written in an extremely careful and detailed manner. she writes about her insecurities and vulnerabilities as a young woman with much efficiency. she makes that as her shield of her storytelling, but sometimes, it felt like she's mocking her and the women for being foolish. her mother, being matriarch and controller of her life, restricted her to be free. so, throughout this novel, she wanted us to tell that she wanted to be free from this control. this book is like purgatorio of her life's troubled times and experiences. this novel is actually her embittered autobiographical account. another major theme of this novel is time. time flows and stops in its own rule in this novel, like time is built on a whim. writing this book was actually an act of rebellion on which she succeeded. moreover, one word that often recurs in this novel time to time is 'desire'. she writes about the desire to love, the desire to be free, and therefore, the desire to live. this novel screams for desire, this novel smells of desire, this novel breathes desire. therefore, through this novel, her writing searches for the freedom through the photographic memories of her adolescent times. and, i loved it so much.
2) wartime notebooks: this part takes from of her notebooks and its materials that she wrote in it. they are largely autobiographical, but it covers different topic from french colonialism to her ominous trip to italy. this is also where autobiography becomes fiction and vice-versa. these writings of duras mainly tell us that everything in here is a part of her memory -- both personal and political -- which bled her life throughout. and, these words take a certain coagulated form which is both unforgotten and unforgiven by her. but, reading this made me bored to death. these notebooks are published without edit and revision because it was released posthumously, and i think duras didn't wish to publish this after her death (but, who knows!). however, these notebooks mainly contain drafts to her unfinished novels which are not later touched by her. publishing this give meaning to an incomplete task. so, it doesn't serve its purpose to me, at least, to include in this another. yes, the three books in this anthology connect the autobiographical contents from her works, but it gets boring to know about one thing repeatedly. i was mostly bored out of my mind, and she cursed her readers in one of her drafts because of a particular situation she faced in her life. i think she would've edited that out if she had to revise it. but, it was senseless for the original (greedy) publishers to publish this which particularly has no literary value and mainly disassociate with her frequently poetic vision.
3) practicalities: this book contains interviews of duras which feels like you're reading a moving documentary about an artist's life in her own poetic language and narration. this is where she is most furiously honest about her life and works. moreover, her writing is very much sensuous with sexual details (i can see where maso got her influence). she frequently took sides with the women to fight the injustices that have been brought by patriarchy, but she didn't urge them to make their sons to fight along with them. she perhaps missed the two-sided violence of patriarchy which also makes men its victims. this is how she openly advocates of partial feminism which is not helpful towards the issue of feminism regarding the battle against patriarchy. her viewpoints are a little myopic, murky, heavily biased and frighteningly cynical. i've found some of her opinions very problematic and a little loose. though she talks about the events of her life beautifully, but i suddenly felt that i've lost interest to know more about her life. i have known about her life in this anthology and this book is no exception. so, it has also made me bored reading about the same thing again and again.
1) the lover: this book might be the most popular duras book, and this is where i got readily impressed by her writing style. in this book, duras' writing comes out of fear and lack which had its deep roots to her adolescent life. her prose is like made of various small freeze-shots. it's like some photographic memories are waiting to be a complete moving image. it's like you're a visitor to the museum of her photographic memories. it's written in an extremely careful and detailed manner. she writes about her insecurities and vulnerabilities as a young woman with much efficiency. she makes that as her shield of her storytelling, but sometimes, it felt like she's mocking her and the women for being foolish. her mother, being matriarch and controller of her life, restricted her to be free. so, throughout this novel, she wanted us to tell that she wanted to be free from this control. this book is like purgatorio of her life's troubled times and experiences. this novel is actually her embittered autobiographical account. another major theme of this novel is time. time flows and stops in its own rule in this novel, like time is built on a whim. writing this book was actually an act of rebellion on which she succeeded. moreover, one word that often recurs in this novel time to time is 'desire'. she writes about the desire to love, the desire to be free, and therefore, the desire to live. this novel screams for desire, this novel smells of desire, this novel breathes desire. therefore, through this novel, her writing searches for the freedom through the photographic memories of her adolescent times. and, i loved it so much.
2) wartime notebooks: this part takes from of her notebooks and its materials that she wrote in it. they are largely autobiographical, but it covers different topic from french colonialism to her ominous trip to italy. this is also where autobiography becomes fiction and vice-versa. these writings of duras mainly tell us that everything in here is a part of her memory -- both personal and political -- which bled her life throughout. and, these words take a certain coagulated form which is both unforgotten and unforgiven by her. but, reading this made me bored to death. these notebooks are published without edit and revision because it was released posthumously, and i think duras didn't wish to publish this after her death (but, who knows!). however, these notebooks mainly contain drafts to her unfinished novels which are not later touched by her. publishing this give meaning to an incomplete task. so, it doesn't serve its purpose to me, at least, to include in this another. yes, the three books in this anthology connect the autobiographical contents from her works, but it gets boring to know about one thing repeatedly. i was mostly bored out of my mind, and she cursed her readers in one of her drafts because of a particular situation she faced in her life. i think she would've edited that out if she had to revise it. but, it was senseless for the original (greedy) publishers to publish this which particularly has no literary value and mainly disassociate with her frequently poetic vision.
3) practicalities: this book contains interviews of duras which feels like you're reading a moving documentary about an artist's life in her own poetic language and narration. this is where she is most furiously honest about her life and works. moreover, her writing is very much sensuous with sexual details (i can see where maso got her influence). she frequently took sides with the women to fight the injustices that have been brought by patriarchy, but she didn't urge them to make their sons to fight along with them. she perhaps missed the two-sided violence of patriarchy which also makes men its victims. this is how she openly advocates of partial feminism which is not helpful towards the issue of feminism regarding the battle against patriarchy. her viewpoints are a little myopic, murky, heavily biased and frighteningly cynical. i've found some of her opinions very problematic and a little loose. though she talks about the events of her life beautifully, but i suddenly felt that i've lost interest to know more about her life. i have known about her life in this anthology and this book is no exception. so, it has also made me bored reading about the same thing again and again.
helenmcclory's review
4.0
I didn't read the middle section, as it was basically just notes on her other novels, but The Lover and Practicalities are unmissable. She stared at everything so hard it peeled away; not necessarily revealing an essential truth, but her own, human one.
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