One of the most important literary figures in France, Marguerite Duras won international acclaim after she was awarded the 1984 Prix Goncourt for her autobiographical novel L'Amant (translated almost ...
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Critical Essay by Roland A. Champagne
Diabelli's sonata provides the mood for many encounters in Marguerite Duras' Moderato Cantabile. The enchantment of this sonata performs much like t...
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In the following review of Moderato Cantabile, the critic praises Duras's “controlled and hard-edged account” of her heroine's failures, but maintains that readers may feel...
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In the following essay, Welcher discusses Duras's use of music and mythology to express her characters' otherwise inexpressible motivations and actions in Moderato cantabile.
As its titl...
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In the following essay, Moskos examines the relationship between language and gender in Moderato Cantabile.
“Difficile d'écrire sur son propre travail. Que dire? Je parlerai d�...
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In the following essay, Wight asserts that the principal characters of Moderato cantabile work out their issues through Freudian game-playing.
Game-playing can surely provide a major sport for both pa...
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In the following essay, Selous examines the significance of what she describes as the “blanks” in Duras's writing, suggesting that those periods of silence or emptiness represent,...
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In the following essay, Hill explores the function of repetition in Moderato cantabile.
Elle se promène encore. Elle voit de plus en plus précisément, clairement ce qu'elle...
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In the following essay, Cismaru discusses Duras's short stories and her novella Moderato cantabile as “anti-novels” in the tradition of the French New Novel.
“Le Boa”...
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In the following essay, Cismaru examines the meaning of alcohol consumption in Le Marin de Gibraltar and Moderato cantabile, concluding that alcohol allows Duras's otherwise hopeless characters...
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In the following essay, Weiss discusses the cinematic techniques Duras uses to convey her meaning in Moderato cantabile.
As a member of the school of New Novelists in France, Marguerite Duras has atta...
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In the following essay, Zepp examines the ways in which language fails to create a sense of order for the characters in Moderato cantabile, arguing that the characters' response is to ritualize...
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In the following essay, Bishop contrasts Duras's style in the banquet scene in Moderato cantabile with her style in the rest of the novella, contending that all of the book's themes are ...
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In the following essay, Bassoff maintains that death is the only satisfactory consummation of desire for Duras's characters in Moderato cantabile.
The dream reveals the reality that conception ...
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In the following essay, Hirsch contends that the characters' oral recounting of the murder in Moderato cantabile constitutes a literary narration through which the characters identify with othe...
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Marguerite Duras
Critical Essay by Roland A. Champagne
