Duras, Marguerite - Alfred Cismaru (essay date 1969)

Alfred Cismaru (essay date 1969)

SOURCE: “A Short Story of Marguerite Duras,” in South Atlantic Bulletin, Vol. XXXIV, No. 4, November, 1969, pp. 22-4.

[In the following essay, Cismaru analyzes Des journées entières dans les arbres, praising Duras's realistic depiction of “the world of the dispossessed.”]

The year 1954 saw the publication of Marguerite Duras' Des journées entières dans les arbres, her only collection of short stories to date. The book contains four titles: “Des Journées entières dans arbres,” “Le Boa,” “Madame Dodin” and “Les Chantiers.” “Des Journées” has attracted a considerable amount of attention, especially in its play version of 1966 under the adept direction of Jean-Louis Barrault and benefiting from the experienced play-acting of Madeleine Renaud. All four titles, however, are good examples of almost plotless compositions pursuing the vein of the New Novel through...

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