'Ourika', or Galatea reverts to stone (Claire de Duras)

In her novella Ourika (1823), Mme de Duras inverts the Pygmalion myth and p ortrays her eponymous heroine as Galatea in reverse. When Ourika is confron ted with her true condition, a process of psychological disintegration and physical suffering ensues, culminating in a death-like state. She is condem ned to complete inaction, retreating to a convent. It is as if this black G alatea is forced to remount her pedestal and revert to stone. Duras's text constitutes an enquiry into what transpires in the psyche of a victim of op pression and injustice. Ourika's plight also attains the universal and repr esents that of humanity in a fallen world.