Sir,
About a month-and-a-half ago, I sent you the manuscript of a novel with the working title La famille Taneran or Maud. I am still in the dark not knowing what you thought of it. I would be most obliged if you would let me know what you have decided, as I will probably leave Paris for a while and would like very much to be informed of your decision before I go. I apologize for rushing you in this way.
When the author did not receive a reply, she turned to the ever-obliging Pierre Lafue, who agreed to write a letter of support, which he sent on May 8. Opining that any shortcomings in the composition of the novel were mere “youthful flaws,” easily corrected, he argued: “One could not expect Madame Donnadieu to have already achieved the full mastery of her art…. I believe it would be a pity to deprive oneself of a book revealing rather rare qualities.”
Gallimard replied to Lafue in a polite letter that the manuscript was not publishable as it was, Madame Donnadieu’s writing being “awkward” and “clumsy” in too many places. But he added that La famille Taneran was “a very interesting work” nevertheless, which allowed “something” to be expected from its author.{10} On May 16, the writer Raymond Queneau—also a member of Gallimard’s reading committee—delivered the verdict directly to Marguerite Duras: “Madame, we have taken a very keen interest in reading your manuscript. It is not possible for us at the moment to undertake its publication, but I would be very happy to be able to talk to you about it if it were possible for you to call at rue Sébastien-Bottin one of these days.”{11}
It would take two more years for the novel to find a publisher. In the spring of 1942, despondent over the loss of her first child (a son who died during childbirth), Marguerite Duras felt the need to look for work. Through her husband’s connections, she was hired by a new governmental office established at the request of German authorities, in charge of allotting the diminishing stocks of printing paper (which was a clever way for the occupying forces to exercise full censorship over what could be published or reissued since the lists of books had to be approved by the Propaganda Staffel and the German embassy). After starting as an assistant, “Madame Antelme” shortly became the commission’s executive secretary. Although she did not have the power to decide who would be on the lists, her position put her in contact with all the publishing houses still operating in occupied Paris.
Developing a reputation for both her efficiency and her literary inclinations, she was able to recommend friends and acquaintances for the paid task of reviewing manuscripts. Her “recruits” included Pierre Lafue; André Thérive; Ramon Fernandez, a brilliant critic and enthusiastic collaborationist; Jacques-Napoléon Faure-Biguet, a writer friend of the Antelmes; and Dionys Mascolo, a colleague of Albert Camus at Gallimard. (Mascolo became her lover and longtime partner, and the father of her son, after she divorced Robert Antelme in 1947.)
After several rejections and significant rewriting, La famille Taneran was finally accepted by Librairie Plon—the publisher of Paul Bourget, Julien Green, and Robert Brasillach—most likely after the intercession of Faure-Biguet, whose own works were published by Plon.{12} The book appeared in Paris bookstores in August 1943.{13} The title on the cover had been changed to the more enticing Les impudents, and the author had adopted the pen name under which she would ultimately become world-famous.
About the Authors
Marguerite Duras (1914–1996) is the internationally known author of the novel The Lover, as well as The War, The North China Lover, Moderato cantabile, and the screenplays of Hiroshima mon amour and India Song, in addition to many other works.
Kelsey L. Haskett has recently retired as professor of French and chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia.
Jean Vallier is the author of C’etait Marguerite Duras, a two-volume biography published in 2006 and 2010 in Paris by Fayard, reissued in a single volume in 2014 by Le Livre de Poche. He lives in New York and Paris.
Also by Marguerite Duras
The Lover
The North China Lover
The Ravishing of Lol Stein
The Sailor from Gibraltar
The Vice-Consul
The War: A Memoir
L’Amante Anglaise
Blue Eyes, Black Hair
Emily L.
Four Novels
Green Eyes
Hiroshima, Mon Amour
India Song
The Little Horses of Tarquinia
The Malady of Death
Outside: Selected Writings
Practicalities
The Sea Wall
Yann Andrea Steiner
Summer Rain
Destroy, She Said
No More
The Man Sitting in the Corridor
Whole Days in the Trees
The Quiet Life
The Atlantic Man
The Slut of the Normandy Coast
Eden Cinema
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