The Lover Part 1 by Marguerite Duras read by A Poetry Channel

"Very early in my life, it was too late." The Lover is a 1984 autobiographical novel by Marguerite Duras, set in pre-war French Indochina (Vietnam), that recounts a passionate, forbidden affair between a teenage French girl and a wealthy Chinese man, exploring themes of colonialism, desire, memory, and identity through spare, evocative prose. The book, a fictionalized memoir that won the Prix Goncourt, is famous for its intense atmosphere, exploration of power dynamics, and its focus on the narrator's coming-of-age and trauma. I used the opening scene of the 1992 film based on the novel whose screenplay Duras wrote to illustrate my reading. My name is Lori. If you enjoy my readings and would like to show your support, you can buy me a cup of coffee : https://buymeacoffee.com/lorigomez_apoetrychannel The text https://rmst202.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2023/11/duras_the-lover.pdf Marguerite Duras was born in southern Vietnam and lost her father at age 4. The family savings of 20 years bought the family a small plot in Cambodia, but everything was lost in a single season's flooding. The disaster killed her mother as a result. After high school in Saigon, Ms. Duras left Indochina to study law in Paris. As a young woman, she worked as a secretary in France's Ministry of Colonies from 1935 to 1941, before becoming a writer. She wrote 34 novels from 1943 to 1993, and became an enduring part of Paris's intellectual elite. In addition to her writing, she also directed about 16 films. For the film India Song (1975), she won France's Cinema Academy Grand Prix. She claimed to have rescued French president François Mitterand during World War II, when he was a resistance fighter and remained a friend and unconditional campaigner. Her most noted novel is "L'Amant"/ "The Lover", but her screenplay for "Hiroshima mon amour" a 1959 romantic drama directed by French director Alain Resnais remains my favorite of all her works.