SOURCE: “Women and Fictions in Marguerite Duras's Moderato Cantabile,” in Contemporary Literature, Vol. 25, No. 1, Spring, 1984, pp. 28-52.

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'elle, de la mère. … La nôtre. La vôtre. La mienne, aussi bien.”¹

A woman's cry. A woman has been killed. In the half-shadow of a café, her inert body has become a “spectacle,” riveting the gaze of passersby. Her murderer, a man, lies on top of her, calling out calmly, “Mon amour. Mon amour.” Another woman has heard, watches. What does she want? To know [savoir]. “Pourquoi?” asks Anne Desbaresdes when she returns to the café. Once again, she has returned to the scene of the crime: “—Ce cri était si fort que vraiment il est bien naturel que l'on cherche à savoir...