Women and Discourse in the Fiction of Marguerite Duras

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Susan D. Cohen

      Pages 1-12

3. Strategies of Narration

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13

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   2. “Ignorance” and Textuality

      • Susan D. Cohen

      Pages 15-55

   3. Intertextualities

      • Susan D. Cohen

      Pages 56-102

   4. Sleeping Beauties: Discourse, Gender, Genre in the “Erotic” Texts

      • Susan D. Cohen

      Pages 103-130

4. Towards a Poetics of Duras’ Prose

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 131-131

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   2. Elements of a Style

      • Susan D. Cohen

      Pages 133-176

   3. Legends

      • Susan D. Cohen

      Pages 177-208

   4. Conclusion

      • Susan D. Cohen

      Pages 209-210

5. Back Matter

   Pages 211-239

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The first comprehensive study of the narrative and stylistic characteristics of all of Marguerite Duras' major works. Through close textual readings with a particular focus on women's access to language, this book shows how Duras critiques and subverts dominant discourse. Duras' textual strategies are described within a discussion of narrativity which also addresses factors of race and class. Cohen demonstrates how Duras achieves the famous ritual atmosphere of her prose through precise techniques which connect to her critique of representation.

• critique
• fiction
• gender
• language
• Narration
• Narrative
• women
• literary diction

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