Blue Eyes, Black Hair

An encounter in a cafe brings a man and woman together who are both obsessed with a blue eyed, black haired man.Each filling a need the other has without touching, yet, "Blue Eyes,Black Hair" is so erotic in it's content that it is indecent, tainted, disturbing.At times it was difficult to absorb and I wanted to close the book, but the writing and style was so unusual that I was intrigued and outraged at the same time.Duras gives the reader an atmosphere of darkness,weeping, lonliness, and death.The woman wears black silk over her face... a metaphor for shame...feelings of loss, hiding what she truly is or is not.- He walks around the white sheets and along the walls. He asks her not to sleep, to remain naked and without the black silk. He walks around her body- ...from Blue Eyes, Black Hair...This image reminded me of a dog circling his prey, not knowing whether to kill it, play with it, or eat it. The man does all of this.Obsession is a sickness. Duras sets the tone. A room where the man and woman meet to weep, sleep, wrapping themselves in black silk and white sheets. Two people who are lost...obsessed with one another's obsession. Until finally...the obsession becomes one and the man and woman become the same person.Note...This is my second book by Duras. I must admit, I've never read an author like her before. The imagery is so strong that she can use less words. I feel as if I have been inside the room myself and I don't like it!

Blue Eyes, Black Hair might not be recommended for a first-time reader of Duras. The book is not flowing or visual or erotic in the manner of The Lover. It seems more a continuation of Duras' literary themes rather than a novel that stands by itself. It might be of more interest to devotees of Duras' greater body of work than to the casual reader. In it, a man sees another man, briefly, through a window, and feels an attraction as strong as love. Weeping in a cafe, later the same night, he meets a young woman with black hair and blue eyes who reminds him very much of the man he saw and desired but never met. The two acknowledge to one another that they are both lonely, and the man asks the woman to go with him to his room by the sea. He wants to watch her sleep. The novel is basically a story of the transferal of desire and the lack of communion between two individuals. The book explores the idea of objectifying a love, of two people wanting things so different that their desires somehow become similar, and of feelings involved in close emotional relationships between people of different sexual orientations. It addresses the themes of loneliness, the exploration of desire and despair, of distance and fear, and of the pain in never really knowing - emotionally or physically - the desired other.