PARIS () -- Marguerite Duras, an "enfant terrible" of French literature whose extraordinary life inspired a string of successful novels and films, died at her Paris home on Sunday. She was 81.


Duras only won critical acclaim late in her career, winning the Prix Goncourt, France's top literary prize, for "L'Amant" (The Lover) in 1984, 41 years after her first novel, "Les Impudents," had been an instant success with the public.


Among her other best known works was the 1959 screenplay for "Hiroshima Mon Amour."