Duras: La Pute de la Côte normande. Censoring Duras

Censoring Duras

In an article published in the New York Times on December 13, 1993, Sarah Lyall explained that 30 copies of Duras' The Man Sitting in the Corridor, mailed to Trent University from the United States, were seized at the border that fall. This English translation of L'Homme assis dans le couloir was deemed unacceptable, "under strict Canadian anti-obscenity laws," because of its depictions of "sex with violence."

Although, as Lyall writes, the Canadians eventually reversed their decision, the original seizure of Duras' novel shows, as I state on the previous page, that Duras dérange. Especially because this "virtual conference" takes place across the U.S.-Canadian border, it is it is worth reading Lyall's article in entirety. Lyall explains that "hundreds" of publications have similarly been refused entry into Canada because of Canadian anti-obscenity law. Duras' novel was subject to the whims of Canadian border control and effective censorship. Articles that have recently appeared in The Nation magazine have demonstrated how their magazine -- using the same distributor that circulates U.S. gay and lesbian publications in Canada, periodicals deemed unsuitable for Canadian eyes -- has also been delayed and effectively censored. Lyall's interview with the manager of a bookstore in Toronto confirms the extent of this particularly harsh censorship of gay and lesbian bookstores and their publications.

A best-selling author in Canada in both English and French, Duras has nonetheless been proven to be scandalously dangerous as recently as 1993. Duras may be "sexy" to some readers; her depictions of sexuality do not always meet with an official stamp of approval, even when the author, at age 79, had already reached such world-wide renown.

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