J.H.'s Column: On Becoming Marguerite Duras

J.H. reflects on Marguerite Duras's life and work, acknowledging a personal shift from admiration to irritation with her later persona, marked by megalomania and denial of reality, exemplified by her comment on the mother of murdered child Grégory. The author grapples with Duras's wartime service in the Propaganda-Staffel and her subsequent efforts to erase this past. However, J.H. argues that the writer's truth, however distorted, is the essence of literature, citing Georges Bataille. The column recommends the "Cahiers de la guerre" (1943-1949), edited by Sophie Bogaert and Olivier Corpet, published by P.O.L / Imec, which contain drafts of later works. J.H. finds these early texts superior for their stylistic dryness and raw autobiographical truth, highlighting passages on childhood, the kiss with Léo, family dynamics, maternity, the death of a child, and the return of Robert Antelme from a concentration camp. The most striking text describes Antelme's eating and defecation, with Duras's unflinching, confrontational prose.