If the two novels are similar in subject matter and presentation of characters, they are totally unlike in style and technique. The first is a traditional novel in the French classical vein, presented chronologically. People and places have names, and there is an obvious plot. This is not to say that Duras's personal style is lacking. Her use of dialogue, repetition, simple syntax, abstract nouns, and lack of transitions is quite distinctive. Yet it is not a "new novel," nor a very different novel from the others of the time.

The Lover, however, is a revolutionary text. It is Duras at her finest, with a style entirely her own. There is a sense of fragmentation, most obvious in the shift from the first to third person. In the most intensely personal and erotic scenes, Duras relates the events and emotions in the third person...