Marguerite Dumas

Tingting

I'm trying to locate Marguerite Duma's autobiography, in English. Can anyone help? I've tried the usual routes and so far no luck.:o

randomguy

I'm guessing you mean Marguerite Duras (- ignore this post if there is a Marguerite Dumas who's also a writer). You'll find a lot of her books in English, as well as a biography of her, on amazon.co.uk.

But I don't think she wrote an autobiography, in the sense of one single book telling the story of her life. She's one of those writers whose books and whose life seem intertwined, with a large autobiographical streak to all her fiction. She did write a memoir of her time in the 2nd world war too.

Her most famous book is L'Amant, a semi-autobiographical account of her relationship as a teenager with a "native" lover in French Indochine (now Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam). It was made into a steamy film. You'll find a copy of the book in English pretty easily. It's years since I read it - ditto Le Ravissement de Lol V Stein, which isn't as earthy but which you can get on Amazon in English. I read them when I was going through a reading-novels-in-French phase - I don't think I'd be able to get through them now.

I bought Moderato Cantibile 2nd hand in English in Chapters on Parnell St last year, so her books are definitely available around Dublin in English. Otherwise try here
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/books/274343/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_4_last