Bonjour Tristesse
Another concise French novel that refuses to turn a young woman’s sexuality into a simple lesson.
Read our take
The Lover
Marguerite Duras’s spare, fragmented novel of a teenage girl, an older lover, money, family, and memory in colonial Indochina.
- 1984
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeA woman looks back at her teenage relationship with an older Chinese man in colonial Indochina. Desire, money, family power, memory, and the unstable act of retelling the past move through the novel’s brief fragments.
What's inside
A teenage French girl in colonial Indochina enters a relationship with an older Chinese man while family poverty and racial hierarchy shape what each person can choose.
Why we recommend it
A young woman’s desire without a simple moral
Duras shares Sagan’s restraint and refusal to explain away a complicated young woman, but the form is darker and more fragmented.
What this book explores
Book editions
- Paperback
- Pantheon
- 1998
- 9780375700521
Reader reviews
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References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document The Lover, its publication, and its place in literary history.
1The Lover
Official recordPenguin Random House, 1998Used forOfficial record used to verify names, dates, institutional details, or other factual information on this page.
2L'Amant
WebsiteLes Éditions de MinuitUsed forWeb source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the The Lover page.
3L'amant — original-edition bibliographic record
Official recordBibliothèque nationale de FranceUsed forOfficial record used to verify names, dates, institutional details, or other factual information on this page.
4Tous les lauréats du prix Goncourt
Official recordAcadémie GoncourtUsed forOfficial record used to verify names, dates, institutional details, or other factual information on this page.
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Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
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