In the following essay, Moskos examines the relationship between language and gender in Moderato Cantabile.

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 their meetings and dialogue to impose meaning on reality.

In the following essay, Hill explores the function of repetition in Moderato cantabile.

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.

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 others and come to understand their own desires by reenacting the passion of others.

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 contained in the banquet passage.

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, particularly in Moderato cantabile, the “unsayable.”

In the following essay, Bassoff maintains that death is the only satisfactory consummation of desire for Duras's characters in Moderato cantabile.

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 a brief period of rebellion and salvation.

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.

In the following essay, Weiss discusses the cinematic techniques Duras uses to convey her meaning in Moderato cantabile.

In the following essay, Wight asserts that the principal characters of Moderato cantabile work out their issues through Freudian game-playing.

Diabelli's sonata provides the mood for many encounters in Marguerite Duras' Moderato Cantabile. The enchantment of this sonata performs much like the Sirens who provided Ulysses with a magnetic attraction and a need for self-discipline. In Moderato Cantabile, the sonata creates a "controlled" (moderato) and "lyrical" (cantabile) atmosphere for Mlle Giraud and the young Desbaresdes, Anne and her son, as well as Chauvin and Anne. Each of these couples participates in...

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 unsatisfied with such a short book.