L'été 80 by Marguerite Duras is a lovely, dreamlike book that is written in an associative, stream-of-conscious manner. In the introduction, Duras explains that an editor asked her to write an article or a series of articles for publication over the summer period. Duras says she doesn't have anything, and doesn't have any ideas, and more or less reluctantly accepts the commission.

The first half of the book consists of languid musings on the coast, observing children playing near the water. The summer of 1980 must have been lovely (I remember it as warm and sunny). In the second half of the book, Duras late style of crude association comes in, with insistent references to Gdansk. One would have to consult reference works to find out where this focus on Gdansk points, perhaps developments in Poland? ( )