Moderato cantabile
| Author | Marguerite Duras |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Genre | Novella |
|
Publication date
|
1958 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 226976060 |
Moderato Cantabile is a novel by Marguerite Duras. It was very popular, selling half a million copies, and was the initial source of Duras's fame.
The plot is initially the banal daily routine of a rich woman taking her son to piano lessons, and conversing with a working class man in a café, drinking wine all the way, then reaches a scandal at a dinner party in chapter 7, followed by a denouement in the final chapter.
The story concerns the life of a woman, Anne Desbaresdes, and her varying relationships with her child, the piano teacher Mademoiselle Giraud and Chauvin. Chauvin is a working-class man who is currently unemployed and whiles away his time in a café near the apartment where Anne Desbaresdes' child takes piano lessons with Madame Giraud. After the fatal shooting of a woman in the café by her lover, Anne and Chauvin imagine the relationship between the lovers and try to reason why it occurred. Anne frequently returns to the café, before returning to her comfortable home, the last house on the Boulevard de la Mer, which itself represents the social divide between the working- and middle-classes. In the climactic 7th chapter, she returns home late and drunk to a dinner party, then causes a scandal (and is subsequently ill, vomiting) whose consequences are seen in the 8th and final chapter.
The novella is organized into 8 chapters, 5 of which recount the passage of full days. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 recount a detailed 6th day of the novella, moving first from a piano lesson to Anne's meeting with Chauvin, and finally to the reception which Anne is late for. Thus, the novel recounts the passage of a full week during Anne's life. The novelette is ambiguous at many points throughout. In some instances, the reader cannot tell who is talking because no caption is provided for speeches. With the exception of Chauvin, Anne and Mademoiselle Giraud, no other names are mentioned; Anne's husband is referred to as "on" in French. The setting is also vague as we are never given a definitive place to locate the town, other than the fact that it is close to the sea. The time can be inferred to be late spring to early summer, but we cannot tell the exact month. However, specific settings, like Anne's house and the café, are described in detail in the description and speeches of the conversations between Anne and Chauvin. Chapter 1 and 5 are set in Mademoiselle Giraud's apartment. The other chapters all start with Anne's arrival at the café, her daily conversation with Chauvin, and her inevitable return to her home due to the siren that signals the end of the working day. It is speculated that Anne returns home at the siren in order to return before her husband gets home.
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