Four Novels: The Square / Moderato Cantabile / 10:30 on a Summer Night / The Afternoon of Mr. Andesmas

By Marguerite Duras

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802151116
• ISBN13: 9780802151117
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Save The Lover for later; start with the novellas.

Duras seems like the Simone Weil of fiction: her characters philosophize while they get undressed and into bed. While Duras covers the same material (man, woman, love, deceit) at least these are fine subjects in the hands of a master crafter. I don't think we can hold it against her for writing them over and over.

A Good Introduction to Duras

"10:30 on a Summer Night" is by far the best of the four novels in this book, focusing on murder and infidelity during a vacation outside Madrid. "Moderato Cantible" is good but not as intriguing as "10:30 on a Summer Night" and is about an alcoholic mother developing an odd relationship with a stranger in a café on the way home from her son's piano lesson. "The Square" has some good lines but is generally slow, focusing solely on a salesman and a servant talking in the park.