Abahn Sabana David

Acknowledgments

An excerpt appeared in Clockhouse.

Douglas A. Martin gave me encouragement and feedback at the right moment. Jeffrey Zuckerman read an earlier draft and gave invaluable feedback, corrections and suggestions. I am indebted to his keen eye. At every thorny moment when I could not bridge the gap between Duras’s extremely subtle poetic mind and her clean and spare prose style, Nathanaël was there, sometimes to salve, sometimes to scold, but always to guide me toward a deeper and more difficult relationship to the text.

I also thank Libby Murphy, who was my co-translator on L’Amour. Working with her on that project made me feel capable to tackle this one on my own. Certainly throughout this work I felt her influence and sensibility as a translator guiding me.

There is a sideways debt I offer to Ananda Devi, whose powerful book of poetry and prose When the Night Agrees to Speak to Me I was translating simultaneously. Her sensibility drew me through languages to find this book in English.

Finally, I want to thank Open Letter Books and Chad and Kaija, who are so devoted to literature in translation and to Duras in particular.