Mr. Speaker, I want to mention the passing of Marguerite Duras, a great French writer of international stature. Through her talent, Marguerite Duras helped French literature and culture remain one of the main foundations of contemporary humanism.
She spent her life writing; she lived through and for writing. As the author of many books, she made a name for herself in several literary genres, such as stories, novels, plays and screen plays, including the one for the famous movie "Hiroshima mon amour". Her novel L'Amant , a book that was stopped at the border by Canada Customs, won the Prix Gongourt in 1984.
The Bloc Quebecois salutes this great woman who was called by Le Devoir a ``luminary of 20th century literature''.