Early life and education. Duras was born Marguerite Donnadieu on April 4, 1914, in Gia-Dinh (near to Saigon), Cochinchina, French Indochina (now Vietnam); she was the only daughter of two teachers who had responded to a campaign by the French government encouraging French people to settle in the colony. Duras's father fell ill soon after their arrival and returned to France, where he died.