Marguerite Duras

Marguerite Donnadieu (Duras) was born April 4, 1914. She was a film director and writer. Marguerite was born in Gia-Dinh or Saigon, Vietnam after her parents moved to work in the French Indochina colony. After her father's death, Marguerite was raised by her single mother. As a teenager Marguerite had an affair with a rich Sa Dec merchant. This period of her life became a big part of her later memoirs and writings.

When Marguerite was 17 she went to France and began studying for a degree in mathematics. She changed to political sciences and then law. When she completed her studies she joined the French Communist Party. She work for the French government representing Indochina during the 1930s. Marguerite worked during WWII for a publishing company and as a member of the French Resistance. Her husband was capture and transported to Germany for his part in the French Resistance.

Marguerite wrote many novels, films, interviews, essays and plays. Her bestselling autobiographical work The Lover describes her affairs with a Chinese man. She also wrote The Sea Wall, Eden Cinema and The North China Lover that describes the same period of her life. Marguerite's later novels dealt with human sexuality and her films are experimental in form. In her films, voice alludes to the story and the spoken word is contrasted with images.

Marguerite is highly noted for her command of the written language and her somewhat non-conventional writings. She married Robert Antelme, but had no children. Marguerite passed away March 3, 1996 at the age of 81. Marguerite fought the demons of alcoholism during her life and died of throat cancer.