| Marguerite Duras is one of the authors and filmmakers whose work has had the largest impact on the twentieth century. This thesis aims at examining the width and the role of the act of looking throughout Duras's work. Without limiting our study to a thematic analysis, we shall see how much her life and her work are interrelated, how much the two arts--writing and filmmaking--are complementary, and we shall also deal with paradigmatic themes related to the act of looking such as clairvoyance, voyeurism or blindness. The act of looking will be seen through the act of writing as well as that of filming. Its relationship to madness will, further be explored, and, in particular, those areas or objects we may call symbolic screens will be carefully analyzed in the context of the poetics of le regard. The latter screens include physical or mental spaces that may serve as meeting grounds for those who try to communicate with their eyes. They turn into places where the self is being revealed to itself as well as to other selves, places offering a haven for those who try to escape their situation, places through which transients pause briefly before disappearing, places that offer as many opportunities to be oneself, open to new experiences, as chances of forgetting about the outside world.;We shall show that, love being impossible in Duras's work, "to keep" (garder) will be replaced by "to look" (regarder), and "to have" (avoir) or "to know" (savoir) by "to see" (voir), the act of looking acting as a surrogate for possession or satisfaction. The only movement that can possibly replace a love relationship is the act of looking, and it not only replaces the need for telling stories, it also replaces dialogue. This new perspective will shed light on how constant behavioral patterns and the fate of individuals are in Duras's work. |
