Head of Reference publishes Duras book

The University Libraries heartily congratulates Hélène Volat, our Head of Reference and Information Services, on the recent publication of her book Les Ecrits de Marguerite Duras. Bibliographie des oeuvres et de la critique 1940-2006 which she co-authored with Robert Harvey and Bernard Alazet.

This is the first monograph published in France in which one will find all works by Marguerite Duras from 1940 up to her death on 3 March 1996, all extant translations worldwide, as well as all of the criticism and research on her work until the end of 2006.

With 3,000 cited references for primary and secondary sources, Les Écrits de Marguerite Duras comprehensively lists works published in a multiplicity of languages on this key French twentieth-century author and provides the reader with a detailed synopsis of each of these works of criticism.

Thanks to an international team of dozens of renowned contributors under the direction of Robert Harvey, Bernard Alazet, and Hélène Volat, this fully annotated bibliography is an indispensable tool for Duras researchers and students alike.

Les Ecrits de Marguerite Duras. Bibliographie des oeuvres et de la critique 1940-2006. Robert Harvey, Bernard Alazet, Hélène Volat. Paris : Institut Mémoire de l'Edition Contemporaire, 2008. (Coll. Inventaires, 2). 530 p.

Yes We Did!

From Hélène Volat, Head of Reference

On January 20, 2009, I attended Barack Obama’s Inauguration in Washington DC with my husband, Robert, and my daughter, Aurélie. After volunteering for the campaign from the very beginning, canvassing houses in Pennsylvania under pouring rain in October, calling hundreds of people on the phone, overspending our budget on contributions, and agonizing over the final outcome of this election, it was the logical thing to do.

We enjoyed every minute of it and hardly noticed the deep cold because of the incredible warmth of the crowd surrounding us. It is the first time since I arrived in this country that I took part in an event that gathered such a diversity of people, of all races, celebrating not only one man but a new future. It was moving and exhilarating. I did not dance with President Obama at the Hawaiian Inaugural Ball. But never mind… Yes we did!

Note: You can see more of Aurélie's inauguration photographs cycling through the pics in the upper right corner