Marguerite Duras: Dix heures et demie du soir en été (1960)

Marguerite Duras's novel two years before this was Moderato cantabile, with which it shares two main points of interest: the female, married protagonist's alcoholism, and a crime passionnel.

Pierre, his wife Marie, their young child Judith and their friend Claire are at the beginning of a holiday in Spain when they are forced to stop continuing their way to Madrid because of a strong storm. They come to a packed hotel in a small town where the police are hunting for Rodrigo Paestra, who has killed both his nineteen-year-old wife and her lover.

Marie has already been drinking in the bar during the evening and late at night can't sleep and knows that there's a bottle of cognac in the car. At the same time, she has noticed the man she believes is Rodrigo Paestra hiding on the roof opposite the hotel balcony. She decides to rescue him, smuggling him in the car, and while he's sleeping taking large slugs from the bottle as she drives. She sees notices Paestra has a gun 'next to his sex': an interesting juxtaposition.

She drives Paestra fourteen kilometres out of the town, to a cornfield where she says she'll pick him up a twelve o'clock the following day, and then returns to the hotel. Marie, who has noticed that Pierre and Claire have become strongly attracted to each other, informs Pierre of her arrangement with Paestra. She finds the cornfield easily but also finds that Paestra has blown his skull off: suicide (or the thought of it) is common in Duras's literature. Time to continue on their journey to Madrid.

This they do, with a few stops on the way for Marie to top up her intake of manzanillas monopolise the wine pitcher. She falls asleep when they stop at a parador to eat, which allows Pierre and Claire the time to hire a room for an hour's 'siesta', and continue the holiday no doubt in a similar manner: Marie drowning her sorrows, and her husband continuing the relationship with Claire.

My Marguerite Duras posts:
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Marguerite Duras: La Pute de la côte normande
Marguerite Duras: L'Homme assis dans le couloir
Marguerite Duras: Agatha
Marguerite Duras: Emily L.
Marguerite Duras: Les Yeux bleus cheveux noirs
Marguerite Duras: L'Amant | The Lover
Marguerite Duras: Le Ravissement de Lol V. Stein
Marguerite Duras: L'Amante anglaise
Laure Adler: Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Duras: Cimetière du Montparnasse
Marguerite Duras: Un barrage contre le Pacifique
Marguerite Duras: L'Après-midi de Monsieur Andesmas
Marguerite Duras: Les Petits Chevaux de Tarquinia
Marguerite Duras: Le Marin de Gibraltar | The Sailor from Gibraltar
Marguerite Duras: La Douleur | The War: A Memoir
Yann Andréa: Cet amour-là
Marguerite Duras and Xavière Gauthier: Les Parleuses
Marguerite Duras: Savannah Bay
Marguerite Duras: Détruire, dit-elle | Destroy, She Said
Marguerite Duras: L'Amour
Marguerite Duras: Dix heures et demie du soir en été
Marguerite Duras: Le Square | The Square
Marguerite Duras: Les Impudents
Marguerite Duras: Le Shaga
Marguerite Duras: Oui, peut-être
Marguerite Duras: Des journées entières dans les arbres
Marguerite Duras: Suzanna Andler
Marguerite Duras: Le Vice-Consul | The Vice Consul
Marguerite Duras: Moderato cantabile
Marguerite Duras: La Vie matérielle
Marguerite Duras: La Vie tranquille
Marguerite Duras: La Pluie d'été