Abstract: In Duras’ oeuvre, the fait divers is presented via a convolution: the author does not pin it down, but displaces it from an expected, already-fixed central point—a crime—to its periphery, what is “around” it—an outcry. It therefore becomes more “divers” than “fait,” demanding a detour in both writing and reading, which are both circular. To properly respond to Moderato cantabile and to Christine V., we must first embrace the detour, and in turn, learn to see the fait divers as a literary device in itself.
