Despite not receiving as much scholarly attention as
Ourikaor finding fame as part of a literary scandal like
Olivier ou le Secret,
Édouardhas been considered Duras’s finest work (Sainte-Beuve, 71). Written in 1821 and first published in 1825,
Édouarduses the lens of class to address similar themes of social exclusion and identity conflict to Duras’s two other finished novellas. Set in the 1770s, the plot focuses on the son of a celebrated lawyer from Lyon, and is generally read as an attack on class boundaries, though there is some disagreement amongst critics about how far this criticism extends (see Bertrand-Jennings, 445). Édouard gains limited access to upper-class Parisian society and its opportunities through the Maréchal d’Olonne, his father’s legal client and…
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Citation: Allan, Stacie. "Edouard". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 August 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=32190, accessed 09 December 2024.]