The Concept of Foreign Space in the Novels by Marguerite Duras

The novels by Marguerite Duras often deal with the spaces which are presented as foreign to the principal characters of the texts. However, since multiple of her texts are set in the French Indochina, the spatial organization of her texts is usually treated in the scholarly tradition as a mere consequence of the ‘colonial’ poetics. Meanwhile this foreignness is equally inherent to the novels with a non-Indochinese setting, which outlines its importance for overall Duras’ poetics. This study attempts to investigate the significance of foreign spaces to Duras beyond the ‘Indochinese’ novels and argue that this aspect of the texts’ spatial organization is rooted in some deeper elements of her poetic system, rather than mere geographical disposition. The concept of foreign is analysed on the material of four novels by Marguerite Duras: "Un barrage contre le Pacifique", "Le Marin de Gibraltar", "Dix heures et demie du soir en été" and "L'Amant".