Claire de Duras

Stacie Allan (Independent Scholar - Europe)

Ed. by Nigel Harkness, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: David Elwyn Evans (University of St Andrews), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Elisabeth Gerwin (University of Lethbridge), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

Born 1777
Died 1828
Activity 1820-1828

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Duras' Works

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Within current scholarship, Claire de Duras (1777–1828) is best known for her novella

Ourika

(1823), which is considered to be the first narrative written from the perspective of a black woman. The innovative nature of this work, which was rediscovered in the 1970s as the fields of feminist and post-colonial studies were emerging, has attracted much scholarly attention. With her other finished fictional works,

Édouard

(1825) and

Olivier ou le Secret

(written 1821; published in 1971), Duras is acquiring increasing significance as a writer concerned with self-determination and otherness. The appearance of two unfinished emigration memoirs –

Mémoires de Sophie

and

Amélie et Pauline

– in 2011, alongside the rarely-commented upon

Pensées de Louis XIV

(1827) and

Réflexions et prières

…

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3892 words

Citation: Allan, Stacie. "Claire de Duras". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 February 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12920, accessed 21 November 2024.]