topics:  | fiction

Long acknowledged as one of the most important literary figures in France,
Marguerite Duras has garnered worldwide praise for her work, from the acclaimed
screenplay Hiroshima Mon Amour to the best-selling novel The Lover. In this
volume of four short novels, Duras demonstrates her remarkable ability to
create an emotional intensity and unity by focusing on the intimate details of
the relationships among only a few central characters: from the park bench
couple in The Square (1955) to the double love triangle in Ten-thirty on a
Summer Night (1960), each novel probes the depths of human emotion, of love and
of despair. Exceptional for their range in mood and situation, these four
novels are unparalleled exhibitions of a poetic beauty that is uniquely Duras.