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سدی برابر اقیانوس آرام
سدی برابر اقیانوس آرام اتوبیوگرافی داستانی مارگریت دوراس است که دورهای کوتاه از دوران جوانی - یا دقیقتر، دوران گذار از نوجوانی به جوانی - اش را با زاویهی دید سوم شخص روایت میکند. در نقطهی آغازین روایت، سوزان (مارگریت) هفده ساله است و به همراه برادر کوچکتر و مادرش در خانهی رو به ویرانیشان در ویتنام زندگی میکنند. پیشتر، برادر ارشد ناخلف خانه را برای همیشه ترک کرده است و مادر در حال دست و پا زدن در باتلاق فقر مشغول آخرین تقلاهای پیش از جنون و مرگ است... .
293 pages, Paperback
First published June 18, 1950
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About the author
Marguerite Duras
396 books3,281 followersMarguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu , known as Marguerite Duras, was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film Hiroshima mon amour (1959) earned her a nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards.
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January 20, 2019
In many ways this novel is shocking. I think of it as Southern gothic. I can re-imagine it set in an isolated cabin in Appalachia. Instead it is set in Vietnam and the isolated cabin is home to a French mother and her two teen-aged children, a boy and girl. Their immorality in taking advantage of people to get money is shocking. So is their “deadly solitude,” idleness and despair. The crumbling sea wall is a symbol of their wasted life.
What’s fascinating too is that the story is quasi-autobiographical. It’s set in the early 1920’s when France had a program to encourage citizens to migrate to colonize what was then French Indochina – today’s Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The author (1914-1996) grew up in poverty in Vietnam after her parents immigrated there. Her parents were both teachers, but after her father died her mother lost her money on a bad land investment and Duras and her two siblings grew up in poverty.
The Mother: She’s mentally ill. She lost all her money in a Quixotic attempt to build a log sea wall to hold out the tide. It washed away in a day with the first seasonal flood. She dreams of the lost sea wall; her debts; the leaky roof; corrupt land agents; her illness; her aging; her death. She locks away anything of value (such as canned goods) and keeps the key around her neck.
Every night the mother “works on her accounts.” (There is no money coming in, so there is nothing to be accounted for.) She dreams of re-building a sea wall that will keep out the tides and make her useless land valuable. Like a gold prospector who believes the lucky strike is just over the next hill, she is obsessed. She has “towering attacks of screaming rage” and she hits both son and daughter. They are 17 or 18 and she is old and weak, so they just take it. One time she beats her daughter on-and-off for two hours. The mother has epilepsy and she is also manic depressive. She has energy and grandiose dreams one day and then days when she can’t function or even get out of bed.
The Girl: She waits by the side of the road where hunters in fancy cars sometimes drive by with guides. She wears her best (only) dress. She hopes someone will stop. One does – a wealthy but unattractive man with a fancy car. With her mother and brother’s encouragement she leads him on, never fully having sex with him, but taking him for what he’s worth. He gives her a valuable ring and then she breaks up with him. She’s essentially in love with her brother.
The Boy: He’s good-looking, but due to poverty, has decayed teeth. He’s in love with hunting and cars. He hunts birds and small animals and an occasional deer. Other than fish and the rice grown by the peasants on their land, his hunting provides the only meat they ever have. He dreams of killing the land agents who ripped off his mother. He hates his sister’s rich male friend but he loves the man’s fancy car.
Their poverty is acute. The run-down shack has a leaky roof and no electricity. They all have one basic set of clothing and one pair of shoes. The mother wears the same dress every day and when she washes it, she sleeps. They have an old jalopy they use occasionally to drive into a town but it’s “missing parts” - such as a windshield, doors, bumpers, fenders.
Their “isolation and solitude” is self-defined. They are surrounded by Vietnamese peasants and they have an elderly live-in Vietnamese couple who run the rice farm and cook for them. The children swim and play with the local peasant kids, so what they mean is that they are isolated from other French people. The only time they see other French people is on their rare trips to town.
The daughter’s rich boyfriend changes their life because he drives them into town almost daily. There they eat and drink champagne in a bar at his expense. Later the family goes to a big city (Saigon?) for a few weeks to pawn the ring the rich man gave the girl. In that trip the boy breaks away and picks up a married woman. The comedy of the wife trying to pour enough booze into her husband so that she can run off with the boy is a great passage of writing.
There’s another passage of first-class writing on a terrible subject. The author’s description of the starving peasant children who die around them every year is told in a matter-of-fact, unsentimental, almost scientific way. It’s the most horrific description of child mortality - dying of malaria, worms and other diseases - I have ever read.
I liked this line: “Intelligence may be a routine way of thinking which may blind us to our own circumstances.”
Duras was a prolific writer, author of dozens of novels, short fiction and screenplays. Her book, The Lover, won France’s Prix Goncourt in 1984. It’s by far her most rated and reviewed work on GR. She was also a film director of almost 20 films; notably she wrote the script for Hiroshima Mon Amour. Some critics consider The Sea Wall her best literary work.
I read and reviewed her short novel Emily L, and a collection, Four Short Novels, all of which I enjoyed, but I’m amazed at how different her writing style was in Sea Wall (1952). Emily L and the others are lyrical, dreamy, understated; Sea Wall is blunt and “in your face.”
Top and middle photos: a museum in Vietnam called "The Lover's House" after Duras' novel 'The Lover.' When Duras was 15 she had an affair with a wealthy 27-year old Chinese man who lived in this house. Photo of the author from 1955 when Duras was 41. Both photos from traveller.com.au
Bottom photo of Duras when she was 17. From https://www.abaa.org/blog/post/margue...
What’s fascinating too is that the story is quasi-autobiographical. It’s set in the early 1920’s when France had a program to encourage citizens to migrate to colonize what was then French Indochina – today’s Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The author (1914-1996) grew up in poverty in Vietnam after her parents immigrated there. Her parents were both teachers, but after her father died her mother lost her money on a bad land investment and Duras and her two siblings grew up in poverty.
The Mother: She’s mentally ill. She lost all her money in a Quixotic attempt to build a log sea wall to hold out the tide. It washed away in a day with the first seasonal flood. She dreams of the lost sea wall; her debts; the leaky roof; corrupt land agents; her illness; her aging; her death. She locks away anything of value (such as canned goods) and keeps the key around her neck.
Every night the mother “works on her accounts.” (There is no money coming in, so there is nothing to be accounted for.) She dreams of re-building a sea wall that will keep out the tides and make her useless land valuable. Like a gold prospector who believes the lucky strike is just over the next hill, she is obsessed. She has “towering attacks of screaming rage” and she hits both son and daughter. They are 17 or 18 and she is old and weak, so they just take it. One time she beats her daughter on-and-off for two hours. The mother has epilepsy and she is also manic depressive. She has energy and grandiose dreams one day and then days when she can’t function or even get out of bed.
The Girl: She waits by the side of the road where hunters in fancy cars sometimes drive by with guides. She wears her best (only) dress. She hopes someone will stop. One does – a wealthy but unattractive man with a fancy car. With her mother and brother’s encouragement she leads him on, never fully having sex with him, but taking him for what he’s worth. He gives her a valuable ring and then she breaks up with him. She’s essentially in love with her brother.
The Boy: He’s good-looking, but due to poverty, has decayed teeth. He’s in love with hunting and cars. He hunts birds and small animals and an occasional deer. Other than fish and the rice grown by the peasants on their land, his hunting provides the only meat they ever have. He dreams of killing the land agents who ripped off his mother. He hates his sister’s rich male friend but he loves the man’s fancy car.
Their poverty is acute. The run-down shack has a leaky roof and no electricity. They all have one basic set of clothing and one pair of shoes. The mother wears the same dress every day and when she washes it, she sleeps. They have an old jalopy they use occasionally to drive into a town but it’s “missing parts” - such as a windshield, doors, bumpers, fenders.
Their “isolation and solitude” is self-defined. They are surrounded by Vietnamese peasants and they have an elderly live-in Vietnamese couple who run the rice farm and cook for them. The children swim and play with the local peasant kids, so what they mean is that they are isolated from other French people. The only time they see other French people is on their rare trips to town.
The daughter’s rich boyfriend changes their life because he drives them into town almost daily. There they eat and drink champagne in a bar at his expense. Later the family goes to a big city (Saigon?) for a few weeks to pawn the ring the rich man gave the girl. In that trip the boy breaks away and picks up a married woman. The comedy of the wife trying to pour enough booze into her husband so that she can run off with the boy is a great passage of writing.
There’s another passage of first-class writing on a terrible subject. The author’s description of the starving peasant children who die around them every year is told in a matter-of-fact, unsentimental, almost scientific way. It’s the most horrific description of child mortality - dying of malaria, worms and other diseases - I have ever read.
I liked this line: “Intelligence may be a routine way of thinking which may blind us to our own circumstances.”
Duras was a prolific writer, author of dozens of novels, short fiction and screenplays. Her book, The Lover, won France’s Prix Goncourt in 1984. It’s by far her most rated and reviewed work on GR. She was also a film director of almost 20 films; notably she wrote the script for Hiroshima Mon Amour. Some critics consider The Sea Wall her best literary work.
I read and reviewed her short novel Emily L, and a collection, Four Short Novels, all of which I enjoyed, but I’m amazed at how different her writing style was in Sea Wall (1952). Emily L and the others are lyrical, dreamy, understated; Sea Wall is blunt and “in your face.”
Top and middle photos: a museum in Vietnam called "The Lover's House" after Duras' novel 'The Lover.' When Duras was 15 she had an affair with a wealthy 27-year old Chinese man who lived in this house. Photo of the author from 1955 when Duras was 41. Both photos from traveller.com.au
Bottom photo of Duras when she was 17. From https://www.abaa.org/blog/post/margue...
October 12, 2024
Although "Un Barrage Contre le Pacifique," published in 1950, was not Marguerite Duras's first novel, it was the one that made her a recognized and appreciated writer thanks to its modernity.
The action takes place in French Indochina in the 1930s. A former teacher, the mother of two grown children, Joseph and Suzanne, tries to keep a concession alive despite the constant ocean incursions into her crops: building dams to stop the waves becomes his reason for living.
This novel describes the difficulty of life for tiny whites compared to wealthy planters or members of the colonial, commercial, or financial bourgeoisie. It also denounces the abuses of the colonial administration's civil servants.
However, this novel is the story of a relationship between a mother and her daughter, Suzanne, who is none other than Marguerite Donnadieu, who will later become Marguerite Duras. Indeed, "Un Barrage Contre le Pacifique" inaugurates female figures who will haunt the future novels of Marguerite Duras, first of all by the mother's presence, a woman in the struggle but a woman delivered body and soul to the love of his son. Then, the woman searches for absolute love, love as a necessity but always impossible love. Finally, we find women's pain, suffering, and fatigue from existing and their ever-renewed efforts. This novel is truly remarkable!
The action takes place in French Indochina in the 1930s. A former teacher, the mother of two grown children, Joseph and Suzanne, tries to keep a concession alive despite the constant ocean incursions into her crops: building dams to stop the waves becomes his reason for living.
This novel describes the difficulty of life for tiny whites compared to wealthy planters or members of the colonial, commercial, or financial bourgeoisie. It also denounces the abuses of the colonial administration's civil servants.
However, this novel is the story of a relationship between a mother and her daughter, Suzanne, who is none other than Marguerite Donnadieu, who will later become Marguerite Duras. Indeed, "Un Barrage Contre le Pacifique" inaugurates female figures who will haunt the future novels of Marguerite Duras, first of all by the mother's presence, a woman in the struggle but a woman delivered body and soul to the love of his son. Then, the woman searches for absolute love, love as a necessity but always impossible love. Finally, we find women's pain, suffering, and fatigue from existing and their ever-renewed efforts. This novel is truly remarkable!
November 6, 2022
گفته شده دوراس کتاب سدی برابر اقیانوس آرام را از خاطرات خودش نوشته است و به نوعی بیوگرافی خودش از دوران نوجوانیش هست. این رمان پرفروشترین و مشهورترین کتاب او است.
داستانسرایی دوراس رو تو این کتاب خیلی بیشتر دوست داشتم. از نیمهی کتاب، داستان خیلی جذابتر میشه، پایان و جمعبندی خوبی داشت.
داستانسرایی دوراس رو تو این کتاب خیلی بیشتر دوست داشتم. از نیمهی کتاب، داستان خیلی جذابتر میشه، پایان و جمعبندی خوبی داشت.
May 7, 2018
زندگیام بی سرگذشت است، سرگذشتی ندارد. هیچوقت کانونی در زندگیام نبود، نه راهی، نه خط سیری. اینجا و آنچایش اما عرصههایی هست گسترده که آدم را به فکر وامیدارد که نکند در آن میانه کسی وجود داشته، ولی در واقع اینطور نبوده، هیچ کسی وجود نداشته. - برداشت آزاد از کتاب عاشق
سدی بر اقیانوس آرام اتوبیوگرافی داستانیِ مارگریت دوراس است که دورهای کوتاه از دوران جوانی - یا دقیقتر، دوران گذاز از نوجوانی به جوانی - اش را با زاویهی دید سوم شخص روایت میکند. در نقطهی آغازین روایت، سوزان(مارگریت) هفده ساله است و به همراه برادر کوچکتر و مادرش در خانهی رو به ویرانیشان در ویتنام زندگی میکنند. پیشتر، برادر ارشد ناخلف خانه را برای همیشه ترک کرده است و مادر در حال دست و پا زدن در باتلاق فقر مشغول آخرین تقلاهای پیش از جنون و مرگ است. کل ماجرای این کتاب را میتوان در همین چند سطر خلاصه کرد، اما اهمیت این اثر در وقایع بهظاهر ناچیزی است که در تمام آثار بعدی دوراس حضور پررنگ، تاثیرگذار و کلیدی دارد
نبرد با اقیانوس آرام
مادر پس از مرگ شوهر نانآور خانواده میشود و برای بدست آوردن پول دست به کارهای مختلفی میزند. او پس از سالها کار، تمام پسانداز خود را روی زمینی آماده کشت سرمایهگذاری میکند. اما چیزی نمیگذرد که با بالا آمدن آب شور اقیانوس و نفوذ به زمینهای کشاورزی، متوجه فریبی که از ماموران اداره مستعمرات خورده میشود. او که روحیهای لجوج دارد، تسلیم نمیشود و باقیماندهی پول خود را صرف احداث سد و آببندی چند کیلومتری در طول ساحل اقیانوس میکند. اما این طرح نیز با شکست روبرو میشود و ضربهی نهایی را به خانوادهی دوراس میزند. عنوان کتاب، برگرفته از این نبرد نافرجام مادر با اقیانوس است. در آثار بعدی دوراس، دریا و اقیانوس همواره حالتی تهدیدآمیز دارد و یا مستقیما باعث مرگ میشود.
انتظار، امید نافرجام و ملال
کاراکترهای این داستان هرکدام به نوبهی خود انتظار واقعهای نجاتبخش را میکشند. دوراس با چشمهایی دوخته شده بر جاده چشم انتظار مردیست که روزی سر برسد و از آن زندگی ملالآور نجاتش دهد. ژوزف انتظار دختری شهرنشین و ثروتمند را میکشد و مادر در انتظار پاسخ نامههاییست که دیوانهوار و بیوقفه به ادارهی مستعمرات مینویسد. در آثار بعدی دوراس، این ملال، رخوت و اتمسر سنگین و راکد خود را به شیوههای مختلفی به رخ خواننده میکشد. رمانهای دوراس سرشار از ملالاند، زیرا زندگی او چنین بوده، در واقع این ملال، سرریز آن رخوت و ملالیست که او در دوران نوجوانی تجربه کرده است. مضمون انتظار، امید نافرجام به واقعهی نجاتبخش و ملال در تمام آثار دوراس به چشم میخورد
نیمهی تاریک ماه
در این کتاب دوراس ماجرای ارتباطش با فرزند یک تاجر ثروتمند و سرکیسه کردنش را شرح میدهد، پسری که به دوارس عشق میورزد و خواهان تصاحب جسم اوست، ولی او حتی دربرابر وعده و وعید ازدواج و دریافت مبالغ قابل توجهی پول، از برقراری کوچکترین تماسی با او خوداری میکند. این مقاومت ممکن است نوعی پاکدامنی برداشت شود، موضوعی که او در مقدمهی کتاب عاشق به آن اشاره میکند. اما این مقاومت، نیمهی روشن ماه است. دوراس در کتاب عاشق، که مدتها پس از "سدی بر اقیانوس آرام" و در دوران پیریاش نوشته، از ماجرای پنهان ارتباط جنسیاش با مردی چینی (ملقب به مرد شولنی) در سن پانزده سالگی پرده برمیدارد، ارتباطی که انگیزههایی صرفا مادی داشته است
عشق به سبک دوراس
دوراس بیاندازه به برادر کوچکش عشق میورزید. در واقع شاید عشق او به برادر مانع از ورود موفق مردان به زندگیاش و شکلگیری که رابطهای عمیق میشد. چنانکه او افراد ثروتمند و عالیمقام را نادیده میگرفت و بارها میگفت یک مرد شکارچی را به هرکسی دیگر ترجیح میدهد (برادرش ژوزف شکارچی بود). در موقعیتهایی که دوراس با معشوقههای برادر روبرو میشود، حسادت در او شعله میکشد و با عناوینی مثل سگ پیر و هرزه و دزد برادر از آنان یاد میکند. ژوزف پس از آشنایی با زنی شهرنشین، بهطور ناگهانی خانوادهاش را برای همیشه ترک میکند و دوراس دچار این تردید میشود که آیا او حقیقتا برای برادرش اهمیت داش��ه یا جایگاه او نزد برادش پندای بیش نبوده است. طی ده سال آینده تا زمان مرگ ژوزف، ارتباط دوراس با او تنها محدود به یک نامه میشود. اما عشق برادر کوچک برای همیشه در قلب او باقی میماند
شیفتگی جنونآسایم به او همچنان به صورت رازی سربهمهر برایم باقیمانده. هیچ نمیدانم چرا تا این حد شیفتهاش بودم و دلم میخواست که با مردن او، من هم میمردم. وقتی این واقعه پیش آمد ده سالی میشد که از او دور مانده بودم. در این مدت به ندرت به یادش میافتادم ولی دوستش داشتم و میشد گفت برای همیشه. هیچ چیز تازهای هرگز نتوانست جای این دوست داشتن را بگیرد
بنظر میرسد سرخوردگی در ارتباط با برادر آنقدر در دوراس عمیق بوده که در تمام آثارش انعکاس یافته است. در آثار بعدی او، روابط عاشقنهی زن و مرد داستان همواره به نوعی ناقص، بیسرانجام و همراه با نوعی گمگشتگیست
October 26, 2016
En Indochine française, la mère et ses deux enfants, Suzanne et Joseph, ont vu l'océan détruire les barrages que la mère avait construits, afin de protéger le terrain incultivable dont elle a obtenu la concession. Elle a travaillé toute sa vie pour obtenir un bout de terrain à cultiver dans les colonies, et chaque année la mer, venant recouvrir les cultures et saler la terre, renvoie ses efforts au néant.
Duras propose un roman de l'échec, une écriture de l'inéluctable, du désespoir ordinaire, nous projetant dans le quotidien des petits blancs des colonies : misère, travail acharné, lutte contre l'administration, espoirs inachevés. Un roman dans lequel on voudrait partir, mais on n'a pas de quoi, un roman dans lequel on est partis un jour pour mieux s'enfermer ailleurs.
Le Pacifique, c'est la nature violente qui empêche la réalisation des travaux des hommes, mais c'est aussi la marée des hommes autour, à l'assaut du noyau familial, qui les sépare petit à petit. La mère, Suzanne et Joseph sont seuls contre les autres : seuls en face des autres blancs, ceux qui ont réussi, et qui les attaquent comme les crabes attaquaient le barrage - ruinant la mère, frustrant Joseph, cherchant à obtenir la virginité de Suzanne ; seuls aussi en face des indigènes, dont la pauvreté et la misère, insoutenables à leurs yeux de blancs, les empêchent de considérer les souffrances de la mère comme de véritables souffrances.
Exilés, les personnages le sont aussi en eux-mêmes, alors que la mère sombre de plus en plus dans une folie boueuse, que Joseph doit oublier Suzanne pour partir, que Suzanne doit oublier Joseph pour aimer. Le rêve d'amour, exotique et fantasmé, se heurte à une réalité faite de demandes en mariage monétisées, payées en diamants par les riches propriétaires qui demandent Suzanne en mariage, comme on paye les prostituées avec une sortie au cinéma ou un tour en voiture.
Une lecture sale et hypnotique, de très belles pages sur le quotidien des travailleurs indigènes, particulièrement sur les enfants et les chiens.
Duras propose un roman de l'échec, une écriture de l'inéluctable, du désespoir ordinaire, nous projetant dans le quotidien des petits blancs des colonies : misère, travail acharné, lutte contre l'administration, espoirs inachevés. Un roman dans lequel on voudrait partir, mais on n'a pas de quoi, un roman dans lequel on est partis un jour pour mieux s'enfermer ailleurs.
Le Pacifique, c'est la nature violente qui empêche la réalisation des travaux des hommes, mais c'est aussi la marée des hommes autour, à l'assaut du noyau familial, qui les sépare petit à petit. La mère, Suzanne et Joseph sont seuls contre les autres : seuls en face des autres blancs, ceux qui ont réussi, et qui les attaquent comme les crabes attaquaient le barrage - ruinant la mère, frustrant Joseph, cherchant à obtenir la virginité de Suzanne ; seuls aussi en face des indigènes, dont la pauvreté et la misère, insoutenables à leurs yeux de blancs, les empêchent de considérer les souffrances de la mère comme de véritables souffrances.
Exilés, les personnages le sont aussi en eux-mêmes, alors que la mère sombre de plus en plus dans une folie boueuse, que Joseph doit oublier Suzanne pour partir, que Suzanne doit oublier Joseph pour aimer. Le rêve d'amour, exotique et fantasmé, se heurte à une réalité faite de demandes en mariage monétisées, payées en diamants par les riches propriétaires qui demandent Suzanne en mariage, comme on paye les prostituées avec une sortie au cinéma ou un tour en voiture.
Une lecture sale et hypnotique, de très belles pages sur le quotidien des travailleurs indigènes, particulièrement sur les enfants et les chiens.
November 13, 2009
Duras writes autobiographically. The story is something like this: as a teenager in Indochina, around 1930, she had an affair with an older Asian man. She's written about this seminal moment in her growing up in the novel The Lover, which was made into the beautiful 1992 film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, and later in North China Lover. Last year I learned that The Sea Wall, published in 1950, is the 1st telling of these events involving her lover, her mother, and her brother. I liked this novel very much. To me, it's the most literate of her novels I've read. Again she tells how a young girl gives herself up to a passion she barely understands and how her financially straitened family uses the events to improve their situation. This earliest version, however, is a far cry from the minimalist approach of The Lover and North China Lover. For one thing, this is an existentialist novel concerned with the despair of the human condition. Tides of resignation and futility lap at the sea walls Duras writes about. Still, it's not all gloom and Beckett and Sartre because Duras, in this 1st version of her affair has given us, conventionally-prosed, something wonderfully reminiscent of Carson McCullers. The portrait of colonial Indochina beginning Part II is breathtaking. Her description of Saigon is a compelling moment. Duras has always had ties to motion pictures. Throughout The Sea Wall she scatters episodes of her characters relating to movies, how they manage to find hope in the lives portrayed on the screen, and how some characters are denied that hope. Duras writes marvelously about film. It's just one of the examples showing how The Sea Wall is finely crafted. It's impressive. The magic is there. I think this is fairly accomplished fiction.
August 9, 2025
کتاب بازتاب زخمهاییست که مارگریت دوراس سالیان سال از مادرش به همراه داشته؛ مادری که تنها به امید ساختن سد در برابر اقیانوس آرام، برای نجات زمینهایی بیارزش در سرزمین استعماری هندوچین، زنده است.
این امید از عشق مادر به فرزندانش پررنگتر میشود و به جای پناه دادن به سوزان و ژوزف، تنهاترشان میکند؛ و از جنگ مادر یک تراژدی مضحک میسازد.
این امید از عشق مادر به فرزندانش پررنگتر میشود و به جای پناه دادن به سوزان و ژوزف، تنهاترشان میکند؛ و از جنگ مادر یک تراژدی مضحک میسازد.
April 16, 2023
این کتاب جز اولین کارای دوراسه و برای همین دور بود از رمان نو. شاعرانگیای که دوراس تو آثاری مثل "عاشق" یا "هیروشیما عشق من" داره اینجا غایب بود. برای من که عاشق این جنبش ادبیم بهترین تجربهای نبود که از خوندن آثارش داشتم.
January 19, 2022
« Le piano commença à jouer. La lumière s’éteignit. Suzanne se sentit désormais invisible, invincible et se mit à pleurer de bonheur. C’était l’oasis, la salle noire de l’après-midi, la nuit des solitaires, la nuit artificielle et démocratique, la grande nuit égalitaire du cinéma, plus vraie que la vraie nuit, plus ravissante, plus consolante que toutes les vraies nuits, la nuit choisie, ouverte à tous, plus généreuse, plus dispensatrice de bienfaits que toutes les institutions de charité et que toutes les églises, la nuit où se consolent toutes les hontes, où vont se perdre tous les désespoirs, et où se lave toute la jeunesse de l’affreuse crasse d’adolescence. »
J’ai lu l’Amant de la même Marguerite Duras, mais aussi Amok de Stefan Zweig, qui se passe aussi en Indochine, et j’ai retrouvé cette atmosphère sombre et étouffante que j’ai aimé dans ces deux ouvrages. Nous sommes écrasés par une chaleur pesante, dégoulinante aussi, qui transperce à travers les mots. Ici, dans Un barrage contre le Pacifique, l’autrice dresse un roman de l’échec (le roman s’ouvre avec l’image de ce cheval mort) , mais aussi de la routine, presque du cycle, un engrenage qui n’en finit pas, et qui va prendre avec lui les trois personnages principaux : Suzanne, Joseph et la mère.
En effet, les personnages sont traités différemment selon moi. La mère, bien que touchante sur la fin du roman, est presque négligée par l’autrice (elle est le seul personnage qui ne porte pas de nom, ce n’est pas anodin). Joseph ne m’a pas plus, il est lui aussi touchant dans un sens mais il approche selon moi de la quasi-caricature à certains moments. Quant au personnage de Suzanne, je l’ai trouvé particulièrement intéressant, bien traité (finesse psychologique sur sa condition de femme notamment…)
Roman de l’échec donc, avec ce motif des barrages qui revient inlassablement comme la mer qui vient et qui repart. Le roman prend également l’apparence d’un huis-clos avec ces trois personnages desquels on ne se détache jamais. Il y a également une certaine fixité dans l’espace : nous sommes toujours aux mêmes endroits, nous rencontrons souvent les mêmes personnages. Cela donne l’impression que les personnages tournent en rond physiquement mais aussi mentalement, ce qui peut être peut illustrer l’échec, l’ennui que représente le cours de leurs existences.
J’ai adoré les passages sur le cinéma que j’ai trouvé sublimes, presque poétiques. Le cinéma est vu comme une échappatoire pour Suzanne, notamment, qui s’évade de son petit village indochinois (encore une fois dans cette dialectique physique//mental : le cinéma se trouve à l’extérieur du petit monde de nos trois personnages, mais aussi il permet de s’évader mentalement et oublier le reste). A contrario, certains passages m’ont mise mal à l’aise : les passages avec les hommes et Suzanne, sur les enfants qui décèdent à cause de la faim…
En bref, j’ai étonnamment beaucoup aimé ce roman, même si j’ai beaucoup de mal avec l’écriture de Marguerite Duras (style hyper sec et aseptisé), je me suis presque attachée aux personnages, j’avais envie de revenir vers ce roman.
J’ai lu l’Amant de la même Marguerite Duras, mais aussi Amok de Stefan Zweig, qui se passe aussi en Indochine, et j’ai retrouvé cette atmosphère sombre et étouffante que j’ai aimé dans ces deux ouvrages. Nous sommes écrasés par une chaleur pesante, dégoulinante aussi, qui transperce à travers les mots. Ici, dans Un barrage contre le Pacifique, l’autrice dresse un roman de l’échec (le roman s’ouvre avec l’image de ce cheval mort) , mais aussi de la routine, presque du cycle, un engrenage qui n’en finit pas, et qui va prendre avec lui les trois personnages principaux : Suzanne, Joseph et la mère.
En effet, les personnages sont traités différemment selon moi. La mère, bien que touchante sur la fin du roman, est presque négligée par l’autrice (elle est le seul personnage qui ne porte pas de nom, ce n’est pas anodin). Joseph ne m’a pas plus, il est lui aussi touchant dans un sens mais il approche selon moi de la quasi-caricature à certains moments. Quant au personnage de Suzanne, je l’ai trouvé particulièrement intéressant, bien traité (finesse psychologique sur sa condition de femme notamment…)
Roman de l’échec donc, avec ce motif des barrages qui revient inlassablement comme la mer qui vient et qui repart. Le roman prend également l’apparence d’un huis-clos avec ces trois personnages desquels on ne se détache jamais. Il y a également une certaine fixité dans l’espace : nous sommes toujours aux mêmes endroits, nous rencontrons souvent les mêmes personnages. Cela donne l’impression que les personnages tournent en rond physiquement mais aussi mentalement, ce qui peut être peut illustrer l’échec, l’ennui que représente le cours de leurs existences.
J’ai adoré les passages sur le cinéma que j’ai trouvé sublimes, presque poétiques. Le cinéma est vu comme une échappatoire pour Suzanne, notamment, qui s’évade de son petit village indochinois (encore une fois dans cette dialectique physique//mental : le cinéma se trouve à l’extérieur du petit monde de nos trois personnages, mais aussi il permet de s’évader mentalement et oublier le reste). A contrario, certains passages m’ont mise mal à l’aise : les passages avec les hommes et Suzanne, sur les enfants qui décèdent à cause de la faim…
En bref, j’ai étonnamment beaucoup aimé ce roman, même si j’ai beaucoup de mal avec l’écriture de Marguerite Duras (style hyper sec et aseptisé), je me suis presque attachée aux personnages, j’avais envie de revenir vers ce roman.
July 3, 2021
This was Duras's third novel, it was also her breakout one. I am on a Duras kick lately. I have been reading her biography: Marguerite Duras, A Life by Laure Adler, from which I learned that The Sea Wall is fairly autobiographical. She was born to French parents in French colonial Indochina and spent her childhood years there in rather dire poverty with a widowed mother and two brothers.
In The Sea Wall, Suzanne is the daughter with only one brother. Her mother had worked and saved for over 10 years to buy a plot of land but it is worthless because the Pacific Ocean floods it every summer, killing all the crops she tries to grow. The mother's desperate efforts to build a wall to hold back the sea and her useless pleading with the colonial administration to let her hold on to and improve her land make for heart-wrenching tale.
Suzanne comes of age watching her fairly crazy brother and her physically ill, chronically unhappy mother strive against these difficulties. The climate, the treacherous beauty of Vietnam, the corruption of the French colonials, and the psychological distress of the family are all brought to brilliant life by Duras's writing. It felt foreign in the extreme to me and yet familiar because of the suffering of colonized people and the depravity of the white ruling colonizers. Such an old tale and yet it goes on still today.
In The Sea Wall, Suzanne is the daughter with only one brother. Her mother had worked and saved for over 10 years to buy a plot of land but it is worthless because the Pacific Ocean floods it every summer, killing all the crops she tries to grow. The mother's desperate efforts to build a wall to hold back the sea and her useless pleading with the colonial administration to let her hold on to and improve her land make for heart-wrenching tale.
Suzanne comes of age watching her fairly crazy brother and her physically ill, chronically unhappy mother strive against these difficulties. The climate, the treacherous beauty of Vietnam, the corruption of the French colonials, and the psychological distress of the family are all brought to brilliant life by Duras's writing. It felt foreign in the extreme to me and yet familiar because of the suffering of colonized people and the depravity of the white ruling colonizers. Such an old tale and yet it goes on still today.
July 22, 2016
Each of the novel's characters battles life in their own way. Even the most hopeless longings serve for surviving the harsh reality. Even though you have nothing but waiting, it grants you the wildest hope of your life, which slowly turns into the darkest despair. Soon the despair swamps you into loneliness, deprives you of sleep, makes forget moral principles. All failures and misfortunes tangle into an inextricable web around you.
January 21, 2015
Great book to reread - it's true that you never read the same book twice - glad I did.
July 25, 2025
Decidi subir para as 5* porque já passou quase um mês desde o fim da leitura e ainda penso nas personagens, e naquela desgraçada família francesa desterrada numa terreola no meio da selva da Indochina (agora Vietname) em meados dos anos 30 do século passado.
Da mãe meio louca a tentar travar o mar de arruinar as suas terras e dos filhos que crescem semi-selvagens naquela terra tão longínqua rodeados de nada.
Da mãe meio louca a tentar travar o mar de arruinar as suas terras e dos filhos que crescem semi-selvagens naquela terra tão longínqua rodeados de nada.
August 14, 2019
teško i mučno, tim mučnije jer je pisano jednostavnim i nezahtjevnim jezikom, lišenim dekoracija, a to priču čini još stvarnijom i još strašnijom. osjećaj mučnine pratio me cijelim putem. vrlo ne-zabavno štivo, vješto napisano.
April 25, 2025
Premier livre de Miss Duras que j’apprécie et surtout que je comprends (ou en tout cas j’ai pas fermé le livre avec le sentiment d’être bête) kilukru !
À la fois malaisant dans les rapports de cette famille tout de même bien tox, et tellement intéressant sur le désespoir, l’envie de fuir, le système colonial qui détruit, les rapports familiaux
À la fois malaisant dans les rapports de cette famille tout de même bien tox, et tellement intéressant sur le désespoir, l’envie de fuir, le système colonial qui détruit, les rapports familiaux
February 6, 2013
I've never read Duras before, though I really like the movie "The Lover," which I've seen about a billion times, which is based on her novel (I haven't read that one yet, but it's on my TBR pile). Though it's got a very French sensibility (bleak, nihilistic and materialistic) I actually really liked The Sea Wall, which is set in 1920s French Indochina. I thought the imagery was fantastic, and the characterizations fascinating. It flung me deeply into that time period and place, and the characters weren't always likeable. However, the book haunts me, and I just can't forget it.
January 22, 2014
Steeped in a sense of frustrated longing, of impossible desire - for love, for escape, for salvation; of loneliness, awakening sexuality, futility, hope, cruelty and lust - this book comes on like a slow fever and doesn't break its hold on you until the final words. I have found it to be unforgettable.
December 30, 2016
Eh bien il ne me reste plus qu'à lire l'ensemble de l’œuvre de Marguerite Duras...
July 14, 2025
فضای داستان برام خیلی شبیه به کتابهای بالزاک بود و خیلی وقت بود وارد این دنیای قدیمی و پرتوصیف همراه با فقر و بدبختی نشده بودم. داستانی غمانگیز، ملموس و روون. و متاسفم که باید بگم اکثر اوقات زمان بیبرقی میخوندمش چون از نظر امکانات! خودم رو تو سطح مشابهی میدیدم.
3.5/5
3.5/5
November 16, 2018
Primera lectura que hago de Duras. Un trabajo muy interesante con la autobiografía y con los personajes. Trama interesante con imágenes tan crudas como bien logradas.
September 3, 2025
Kartais labai verta paskaityti visai ne tavo skonio knygą. Visai patiko.
May 28, 2007
While the story contained in this book is difficult to recount as it lacks any tremendously memorable or focal events, I was riveted to it the whole way through...really it was difficult to put down. The story describes a mother, her two children, and a time span of a few months in their lives as the children are just on the cusp of adulthood and independence. The descriptions of poverty, struggle and life in a hostile environment are devastating and very effective in the context of the story. The action in the story comes about thanks to the daughter attracting a wealthy suitor, but little actually "happens" outside of the family taking some trips to the city and receiving/selling various items. The ambience or tone that this book conveys (I am at a loss to really define it), is its best part. This book provokes reflection about hope, obligation and suffering, and I will certainly read it again sometime.
October 2, 2021
Comme d’hab’ face aux classiques, c’est un grand meh. Sauf les cinquante dernières pages où le rythme s’accélère (enfin) et où l’histoire prend un tournant que je trouve plus prenant.
Sinon, pas particulièrement emportée par la plume, lassée par l’intrigue, pas attachée aux personnages.
Peut-être que ce n’était pas le bon moment pour lire une histoire d’échec et de misère.
Sinon, pas particulièrement emportée par la plume, lassée par l’intrigue, pas attachée aux personnages.
Peut-être que ce n’était pas le bon moment pour lire une histoire d’échec et de misère.
March 6, 2013
What could be more tragic and useless as building a "sea wall" or a beautiful young woman throwing her life away... This is essentially the same sad story as The Lover but written 100 times better.
January 22, 2025
Quel style Margue
J’ai mis du temps, DU TEMPS (8 mois) a venir à bout de ce livre (commencé post l’Amant qui m’avait absolument bouleversée)
Malgré l’edgy (soupçon d’inceste, vente d’une jeune fille de 16 ans) le cynisme ambulant et pragmatique de gens dans la merde, à cause d’un système et pas exclusivement d’eux même (merci Margue, sortons du libéralisme) émeut, attriste, bouleverse aux brefs passages d’amour et de liberté de jeunes gens laissés pour compte
On appréciera le titre
On apprécie l’atmosphère de l’Asie du Sud-Est (backpacker community)
J’ai mis du temps, DU TEMPS (8 mois) a venir à bout de ce livre (commencé post l’Amant qui m’avait absolument bouleversée)
Malgré l’edgy (soupçon d’inceste, vente d’une jeune fille de 16 ans) le cynisme ambulant et pragmatique de gens dans la merde, à cause d’un système et pas exclusivement d’eux même (merci Margue, sortons du libéralisme) émeut, attriste, bouleverse aux brefs passages d’amour et de liberté de jeunes gens laissés pour compte
On appréciera le titre
On apprécie l’atmosphère de l’Asie du Sud-Est (backpacker community)
August 9, 2023
Pues al final me ha encantado.
April 23, 2020
I must say that this was a pretty unusual read. I am not quite sure if I liked or disliked the book to be honest. On one hand, I think the complexity of thoughts and the outlook on life offered in the book is so depressing that it makes you dislike the story, but at the same time, the ideas presented have a grain of truth in them and are presented in a truly unique, beautiful and touching way. I very much enjoyed the unique writing style adopted by the author!
June 1, 2023
Il s'agit de ma première rencontre avec l'autrice, que je craignais un peu car on l'associe généralement à l'école du nouveau roman. Pourtant j'ai trouvé le roman très facile à suivre, très compréhensible, avec une langue qui certes a ses originalités mais n'est pas trop complexe ni trop alambiquée.
En revanche l'histoire m'a complètement happée, et j'ai adoré ma lecture dès les premières pages. Rarement la misère m'a semblé aussi bien écrite. Un roman social très impactant.
En revanche l'histoire m'a complètement happée, et j'ai adoré ma lecture dès les premières pages. Rarement la misère m'a semblé aussi bien écrite. Un roman social très impactant.
May 29, 2022
Et puis, moi qui ai abhorré L'Amant à cause du style de Duras, je dois dire que tout au long de celui-ci, je n'ai cessé de me dire : mais, que c'est beau.....
August 6, 2021
Čitanje ove knjige bio je jedan od najljepših čitalačkih iskustava u mom životu, ne samo zato jer je u pitanju veličanstveno književno djelo nego i zato što se poklopilo da sam je čitala unutar dva savršena ljetna dana, sjedeći u ležaljci na predivnoj plaži Vučine prepuštena suncu, povjetarcu i savršenom spoju mirisa i boja. Ovi su dani bili kratki predah od teške i zahtjevne godine i bili su skoro nadrealni u svojoj ljepoti i lakoći. Knjiga ima sve ono što volim – savršen književni stil, rečenice koje su pravi mali dragulji, dobro ispričanu priču i jake likove koji nisu ovdje da bi utjelovljivali ideale ulaštene dobrote, poštenja i čistunstva već su puno stvarniji i stopljeniji sa životom. To, između ostalog, podrazumijeva i posve zdrav i nimalo licemjeran odnos prema seksu, pa me podsjetila na Alice Munro. U pogovoru knjige napisano je bolje nego što bih ikada umjela sažeti: „..ovdje je riječ o propasti brane koja je trebala štititi njihov usjev riže od plimnog vala pacifičkog oceana, a ujedno i propasti samohrane majke koja stoji na čelu obitelji siromašnih bijelaca u kolonijalnoj Maleziji koji nisu uključeni u svijet bogatih „bijelih zvjerki“. „Majka Hrabrost koja je izgradila ovu branu, „očajnica koja se previše nadala“, velikodušna i luda, predstavlja središte ove potresne i buntovničke knjige koja je politički i socijalno angažirana jer je prožeta raskrinkavanjem „kolonijalnog vampirizma“, pa se uz nju u knjizi na sceni pojavljuu novi, mahom tradicionalno marginalizirani književni i društvene subjekti: djeca, maloljetnici, starci, radnici bez posla, siromasi, alkoholičari, bolesnici, ubojice, stranci te buntovnici uopće.“
Evo i nekoliko najdražih citata:
„I već se iz zemlje isparavao miris samoga svijeta, miris svih cvjetova, svih živih vrsti, miris tigrova-ubojica i miris od sunca užegloga mesa njihovih nedužnih žrtava, sjedinjenih zajedno u iskonskoj nerazlučivosti stvaranja svjetova.“
„Zalijevane nekoliko puta dnevno, pune zelenila i cvijeća, te su ulice bile isto tako dobro održavane kao aleje kakva golemog zoološkog vrta gdje su rijetke vrste bijelaca budno pazile na sebe same. Središte otmjene četvrti bilo je njihovo istinsko svetište.“
"Bila je to prava oaza, ta crna poslijepodnevna kinodvorana, ta noć za osamljenike, noć umjetna i demokratična, prostrana ravnopravna noć kina, istinskija od prave noći, još čarobnija, još utješnija nego sve prave noći zajedno, odabrana noć, pristupačna svima, velikodušnija i darežljivija dobročinstvima nego sve dobrotvorne ustanove i sve crkve zajedno, noć u kojoj čovjek zaboravlja na svoj stid, u kojoj nestaje očajanje."
Evo i nekoliko najdražih citata:
„I već se iz zemlje isparavao miris samoga svijeta, miris svih cvjetova, svih živih vrsti, miris tigrova-ubojica i miris od sunca užegloga mesa njihovih nedužnih žrtava, sjedinjenih zajedno u iskonskoj nerazlučivosti stvaranja svjetova.“
„Zalijevane nekoliko puta dnevno, pune zelenila i cvijeća, te su ulice bile isto tako dobro održavane kao aleje kakva golemog zoološkog vrta gdje su rijetke vrste bijelaca budno pazile na sebe same. Središte otmjene četvrti bilo je njihovo istinsko svetište.“
"Bila je to prava oaza, ta crna poslijepodnevna kinodvorana, ta noć za osamljenike, noć umjetna i demokratična, prostrana ravnopravna noć kina, istinskija od prave noći, još čarobnija, još utješnija nego sve prave noći zajedno, odabrana noć, pristupačna svima, velikodušnija i darežljivija dobročinstvima nego sve dobrotvorne ustanove i sve crkve zajedno, noć u kojoj čovjek zaboravlja na svoj stid, u kojoj nestaje očajanje."
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