The Lover (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Marguerite Duras
- First Published: 1984
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: New Novel
- Time of Work: The early 1930’s
- Setting: Indochina and France
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Autobiographical fiction, New Novel
- Subjects: Family or family life, Memory, Colonialism, Colonies or colonization, Teenagers, France or French people, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, 1940’s, 1920’s, 1930’s, Intermarriage, Wealth, China or Chinese people, High schools or high school students, Indochina, Opium
- Locales: France, Saigon, Vietnam, Indochina
Characters Discussed
The narrator, an older French woman. Now a successful writer in France, the narrator reminisces about her childhood and adolescence in Indochina, focusing on an image that appears to be central to her identity, an image of herself dressed in gold lamé high heels, a silk dress with a very low neckline, and a man’s fedora. As she crosses a branch of the Mekong River, she is watched by a Chinese millionaire in his black chauffeur-driven limousine. Although she is only fifteen and he is twelve years older, she becomes his mistress, accepting money and...
[The entire page is 1235 words long]
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