This article focuses on the deadly issues at stake that diverse contexts of totalitarian violence represent for the living. Situating Duras’ singular work “The Pain” in her literary canon, the article elaborates upon an interrogation into the unconscious psychic processes that are specific to mourning and pathological mourning, or “Melancholia” per Freud, Lacan and Ricoeur. This leads to a reflection on the way in which, confronted by textual boundaries that are not publicised, heavily influenced by the imagining of another’s death, the reader can find himself in a dangerous position. Times 0 and 1 from the oral transmission passing from the surviving witness (Antelme) to the imaginary witness (Moscolo) positioned as psychic repository (Jurgenson) are summarized. From there, an appropriate stratification specific to both invested authorities in “The Pain” emerges, and can move closer to an ethical position on the subject of writing and readership authority.