Model
Digital Document
Publisher
Florida Atlantic University
Description
The relationship between the mother and the child in Duras
is most fully developed in the novels La Vie Tranquille
(1944), Un Barrage contre le Pacifique (1950), Les Petits
Chevaux de Tarquinia (1953), Moderato cantabile (1958),
and L' Amant (1984). The relationship is intense, initially
joyful but ultimately alienated. It dramatizes the
feminine needs of the mother and the filial needs of the
child, always in conflict. It weakens, as the mother undergoes
personal trials, and, as the child grows older,
love turns to hate and despair. This study of the novels
reveals a consistent structure: the mother-child relationship
in Duras is repeatedly depicted as an enslaving experience, comparable in its passionate development to a
foredoomed love affair.
is most fully developed in the novels La Vie Tranquille
(1944), Un Barrage contre le Pacifique (1950), Les Petits
Chevaux de Tarquinia (1953), Moderato cantabile (1958),
and L' Amant (1984). The relationship is intense, initially
joyful but ultimately alienated. It dramatizes the
feminine needs of the mother and the filial needs of the
child, always in conflict. It weakens, as the mother undergoes
personal trials, and, as the child grows older,
love turns to hate and despair. This study of the novels
reveals a consistent structure: the mother-child relationship
in Duras is repeatedly depicted as an enslaving experience, comparable in its passionate development to a
foredoomed love affair.
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