Ravishing Duras, or the Gift of Love

Whereas the reference to Sade recurs in Lacan’s texts, his engagement with Marguerite Duras has all the features of a sudden infatuation, of a brief but devouring passion. One may wonder why Lacan decided not to include his brilliant essay on Marguerite Duras in the Ecrits volume that was published a year later. Is it because, as he knew personally the writer whose production had increased dramatically in the mid-sixties, he felt that his short 1965 article was not definitive enough? Did he see it as a purely occasional piece, a personal ‘homage’ to a writer he admired, or a more tentative approach to the issue of femininity, an important stepping stone to be kept in reserve for later developments? Whatever the answer is, Duras’s book had made a major impact on Lacan’s circle, since it was widely discussed when it was published in 1964. Michèle Montrelay gave a long and powerful presentation on it in Lacan’s Seminar1. It is clear that the new novel made a deep impact on Lacan himself. Following his usual method, Lacan read Duras’s works extensively, and then arranged a meeting with the already famous writer. This is how Duras describes their interview: ‘He gave me an appointment one day, at midnight, in a bar. He scared me. In a basement it was. To talk about Lol V. Stein. He told me that it was a clinically perfect delirium. He started questioning me. For two hours. I was reeling when I left.’2