Moderato cantabile by Marguerite Duras

Moderato cantabile Reviews

• 
  Luís

  In Moderato Cantabile, despite their simplicity, each sentence is clear, there is no obscurity, and the means used are strict.
  Yet this brevity and even the repetitions are loaded with lightning and lead.
  The presence of beings and their exchanges' transience have to amplify intensely. These foreign characters, innocuous at first, are pushed to their limits, magnetised by banality and white-hot.
  The concise descriptions had filled with images that forced the reader to lean in to listen to the blanks left. There are no filters; the scenes unfold in reality as if played out on the world's platform in this theatre.
  There is hope, despair, desolation and struggle.
  Disturbing, elusive Moderato Cantabile will no doubt confuse some. But this atypical object mastered has a mad audacity and great originality.
• 
  Paula Mota

  4,5*
  
  Pousou de novo a mão em cima da mesa. Ele seguiu o gesto com os olhos e penosamente compreendeu, levantou a dele, que pesava como chumbo, e pouso-a sobre a dela. As mãos deles estavam tão frias que se tocaram ilusoriamente apenas com essa intenção, para que ficasse feito, com a única intenção de que o ficasse, não de outro modo, já não era possível. As mãos deles ficaram assim, imóveis na sua pose mortuária.
  
  Tal como um outro livro de Marguerite Duras que li há pouco tempo, este podia intitular-se a “A Doença da Morte”, pois também ela está entranhada em “Moderato Cantabile”, tanto pelo crime que faz a protagonista voltar inúmeras vezes ao café onde ele ocorreu, como nos vocábulos e imagens usadas pela autora, desde as magnólias murchas até aos repetidos ocasos.
  Atraída por um crime aparentemente passional, Anne entabula conversa com Chavin, que estava presente aquando do incidente e está disposto a informar-se sobre o trágico casal para lhe satisfazer a curiosidade. Há álcool, cansaço e desespero nessa infeliz relação, fazendo-me lembrar “Os Cavalos Também se Abatem”, de Horace McCoy.
  
  - Sangue na boca – disse ela -, e ele continuava a beijá-la, a beijá-la.
  Recompôs-se: aquilo que disse era uma suposição sua?
  - Eu não disse nada.
  O poente estava agora tão baixo que atingia o rosto do homem. O corpo, de pé, ligeiramente apoiado ao balcão, recebia-o desde há instantes.
  - Tendo-o visto, não podemos impedir-nos disso, não é verdade, é quase inevitável?
  - Eu não disse nada – repetiu o homem. – Mas julgo que ele fez pontaria ao coração como ela lhe pedia.
  
  Tendo este episódio sangrento desencadeado algo dormente nesta solitária mulher de classe alta, insone na sua mansão à saída de uma cidade costeira, centrada no encantador mas rebelde filho e nas suas lições de música, há um jogo de espelhos em que nos apercebemos do silêncio e angústia que caracteriza a vida da própria Anne, que no café, perante o jarro de vinho, se dá conta de uma sede que não consegue apaziguar.
  “Moderato Contabile” é um texto compacto mas extremamente rico, escrito no estilo etéreo que tanto me agrada nesta autora.
  
  -Muitas mulheres já viveram nessa mesma casa e ouviam as alfenas à noite em vez do coração. As alfenas estavam lá desde sempre. Essas mulheres morreram todas no seu quarto, por detrás dessa faia que, contrariamente ao que você julga, não cresce mais.
  - É tão falso como o que me disse sobre essa mulher morta de bêbeda todas as noites.
  (...)
  - Despache-se a falar. Invente.
  Ela fez um esforço, falou quase alto no café ainda deserto.
  - O que seria preciso era habitar uma cidade sem árvores as árvores gritam quando há vento aqui há sempre à excepçãode dois dias do ano no seu lugar está a ver eu iria embora daqui não ficaria aqui todos os pássaros ou quase todos são pássaros do mar que se encontram mortos depois das tempestades (...).
• 
  emma

  i used to be so smart that i could read french classics that inspired new-wave adaptations...IN FRENCH.
  
  i am no longer smart.
  
  part of a series where i review books i read a long time ago and also yearn for my bygone youth
• 
  KamRun

  شاهکاری خلق شده از هیچ! اگر بخوام در یک کلمه این اثر رو توصیف کنم، حتی واژه‌ی اعجاب‌انگیز هم نسبت به این اثر حق مطلب رو ادا نمی‌کنه. اینکه نویسنده در قالب دیالوگ‌های روزمره و بی‌اهمیت، شوری این‌چنین، ملالی این‌چنین و عشقی این‌چنین رو خلق کنه اعجاب‌انگیز نیست؟
  
• 
  Sawsan

  رواية صغيرة للكاتبة الفرنسية مارجريت دوراس
  سرد يحكي بشيء من الغموض عن حياة سيدة ثرية
  ويكشف بالتدريج عن مشاعر الوحدة والحزن
  أسلوب دوراس في الحكي مختلف.. بسيط وهادئ لكنه مُراوغ
  
• 
  Heba

  نوفيلا فرنسية قصيرة ناعمة وهادئة كعنوانها " موديراتو كانتابيل" أى رسلاً وشدواً.....
  لقد التقيا في اليوم الذي يلي حادثة مقتل امرأة بالمقهى ، كانت تلك الحادثة تتقاطع مع حوارهما القصير ، الذي تنصت اليه أنت قلقاً حذراً ، يأتيك صخب البحر ممتزجاً مع نغمات البيانو المتقطعة، مع صفارة نذير خروج العمال من المصنع القريب، ومع ذلك كان صوت كل منهما وحيداً ومحايداً ..
  تتأمل مشاهد لقاءهما الخاطفة بينما يتلاعب الضوء والظل عليها في لعبة صامتة...
  هنا تترقب ما سيفضي اليه حديثهما ، لكن في حقيقة الأمر ليس عليك سوى أن تنصت إلى كل ما لم يُقل... رسلاً...وشدواً...
• 
  Peiman E iran

  ‎دوستانِ گرانقدر، موضوعِ اصلیِ این داستان، عشقِ نافرجام است... ولی اینبار، نوعی دلدادگی که بر اثرِ تکرار در درونِ دو طرف نمایان میشود و به یکباره همچون گردی در میانِ تندباد، ناپدید میشود و میرود.. دودلی ها و شکِ بسیار، نمیگذارد تا دلدادگی به نتیجه برسد و عشق در وجودِ دو طرف جاری گردد و آن شور و هیجان بدونِ ارضا شدن، نا تمام باقی میماند.. نمیدانم، آیا میتوان نامِ این را عشق نهاد، یا خیر
  ----------------------------------------------
  ‎داستان در موردِ زنی ثروتمند به نامِ <آن دوبارِد> میباشد.. مادام آن دوبارِد، هر جمعه بچهٔ لاغر اندام و بیحال اش را به کلاسِ آموزشِ پیانوِ <مادمازل ژبرو> میبرد.. ولی بچهٔ بیچاره هیچ علاقه ای به پیانو و آموزشِ پیانو ندارد و همیشه ناراضی به خانه بازمیگردد .. جالب است که مادمازل ژبرو نیز نوعی تهی بودن و کسالت را از آموزشِ پیانو در وجودش احساس میکند
  ‎نزدیکِ خانهٔ مادام آن دوبارِد، میکده و کافه ای است که آن دوبارِد، گهگاهی به آنجا رفته و شراب سرخ مینوشد... یک روز جمعه، مادام آن دوبارِد، جنازهٔ غرقِ در خونِ زنی را بیرونِ کافه میبند که به او میگویند: مردی که عاشقِ این زن بوده، او را اینگونه کشته است
  ‎مادام دوبارِد، به کافه میرود و شراب سرخ مینوشد و مست میکند، ناگهان صدایی از پشت او را با نام، صدا میکند.. مادام آن، برمیگردد و مردِ جوانی به نامِ <شووَن> را میبیند... شووَن، کارمندِ شرکتِ تجاریِ شوهرِ مادام آن بوده است که شوهرِ آن، او را از کار بیکار کرده و اخراج شده است
  ‎شووَن کنارِ مادام نشسته و داستانی عاشقانه و تلخ را برایِ او تعریف میکند... پس از آن روز، غیر از روزهایِ جمعه، مادام آن و شووَن، هر روز به آن کافه رفته و مینوشند و مست میکنند و گفت و گو میکنند... کم کم و به مرورِ زمان، این دیدارها و مست کردن ها، تبدیل به دلدادگی بینِ این دو میشود، تا آنکه............................... عزیزانم، بهتر است خودتان این داستان را خوانده و از سرانجامِ آن آگاه شوید
  ---------------------------------------------
  ‎امیدوارم این ریویو در جهتِ آشنایی با این کتاب، کافی و مفید بوده باشه
  ‎<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>
• 
  Stela

  Jamais les paroles de Roland Barthes, proclamant que la différence entre l’écriture traditionnelle et celle moderne reste notamment dans la vitesse de lecture, n’ont sonné plus vrai. Moderato cantabile, un mini-roman d’à peu près cent pages, doit être lu lentement, un mot à la fois, et même comme ça on n’est pas sûr d’avoir tout saisi. Et cela n’a aucun rapport avec la construction de la phrase ni avec d'autres issues linguistiques. Au contraire, la phrase a la même belle cadence et son sens la même clarté avec lesquels Marguerite Duras nous a habitués. C’est l’intrigue qui refuse de se déployer, ce sont les personnages qui faillissent se révéler, c’est le narrateur qui perd sa fonction d’intermédiaire entre le monde de la fiction et le lecteur.
  
  Ben oui, c’est d’un « nouveau roman » qu’on parle. Pourtant, lorsque le nouveau roman rencontre Marguerite Duras, c’est sûr qu’il y aura plus que ça. Car le refus de la narration, du personnage et de l’intrigue cachent des possibilités (comme dans les livres interactifs, pour vulgariser un peu) que le lecteur se sent obligé de chercher et de développer.
  
  Et, inévitablement, l’aventure de la lecture devient une chasse aux suppositions, un défi aux interprétations et, bien-sûr, un effort subconscient de transformer le neuf et l’étrange dans le traditionnel et le familier. C’est-à-dire, d’apporter l’écriture dans la zone bien connue de l’identification d’un thème, de la découverte d’une structure, de l’interprétation d’une image.
  
  Allons voir. Un enfant refuse de se rappeler le sens de l’expression "moderato cantabile", à l’exaspération de sa professeure de piano et à la complaisance de sa mère. Une sonatine est interrompue par un cri. Une femme et un homme reconstituent en le rendant personnel un crime passionnel. Un régal célèbre l’effronterie des sens. De quoi s’agit-il, en effet? On a dit – le gris de la vie bourgeoise (brr! - quelle grossièreté), on a dit – l’amour et la mort, on a dit – ne regarde pas le couple, regarde l’enfant, et le repas, et le vin et fais attention à la rencontre et à la mort.
  
  Moi je dis à mon tour qu’il s’agit peut-être de la fausse assurance d’une vie vécue moderato cantabile jusqu’à ce qu’un fait sensationnel la perturbe soudainement, et des gens qui superposent leurs vies sur les tragédies des autres sans vraiment les comprendre, et de l’étouffement des conventions sociales et de l’évasion à la médiocre réalité. Et de la lutte, perdue à l’avance, avec l’éphémère.
  
  « Le temps passe, dit Chauvin, vous êtes de plus en plus en retard. »
  
  Tant de vues différentes sur un si petit roman, mais qui incite le lecteur sans l’aliéner, ni même celui le moins préparé à se livrer aux plaisirs incertains d’une écriture nouvelle. Car (et tel est le cas avec tous les vrais chefs d’œuvre), même dans ces arcanes de lecture, il trouve toujours son chemin à suivre à volonté, afin de l'adapter à son horizon d'attente.
• 
  Nickolas the Kid

  Πριν αρκετά χρόνια σε ένα masterclass κλασικής κιθάρας στη Χαλκιδική, ο Roland Dyens μας είχε πει πως ο χρωματισμός ενός μουσικού κομματιού είναι κά��ι το τελείως υποκειμενικό και εξαρτάται αποκλειστικά και μόνο από τον εκτελεστή και τη στιγμή της εκτέλεσης. Αλλιώς αντιλαμβάνεται ο κάθε μουσικός το piano, το forte, το moderato και πάει λέγοντας.
  Ο τίτλ��ς του βιβλίου αυτού είναι μουσικός. Σε ωθεί σε κάτι μελωδικό αλλά και ήπιο αφήνοντας ταυτόχρονα περιθώριο για αναγνωστικές "αυθαιρεσίες". Η Ντιράς δεν προσπαθεί να εντυπωσιάσει τον αναγνώστη -εξού και η μετριασμένη λυρικότητα - αλλά θέλει να τον μυήσει σε έναν ερωτικό γρίφο. Η ιστορία ξεκινάει από ένα μάθημα πιάνου και σταδιακά μετουσιώνεται σε ερωτικό παιχνίδι δύο αγνώστων.
  Ένα βαρετό και ανούσιο μάθημα πάνω σε μια σονατίνα του Ντιαμπέλι διακόπτεται από έναν περίεργο φόνο. Είναι η αφετηρία της γνωριμίας της Άννας με ένα άγνωστο άντρα, τον Σοβέν σε ένα μικρό παραθαλάσσιο καφέ. Η συγγραφέας σταδιακά απομονώνει το ζευγάρι αφήνοντας όλους τους υπόλοιπους χαρακτήρες να λειτουργούν συμβολικά και επικουρικά μέχρι το φινάλε. Όλες οι τοποθεσίες, τα ονόματα και οι χαρακτήρες έχουν συμβολικό χαρακτήρα. Η αδιάφορη καθηγήτρια πιάνου, το μικρό παιδί της Άννας, το παρελθόν του ζευγαριού, η θάλασσα, το λιμάνι, οι ανθισμένες μανόλιες...
  Η γραφή της Ντιράς θυμίζει κατά τόπους τη γραφή του Τζέημς Τζόυς γιαυτό και στο τέλος το κείμενο επιδέχεται πολλών ερμηνειών. Το παρελθόν αλλά και το μέλλον του ζευγαριού είναι σκιώδη και ίσως θα πρέπει μόνοι μας να ρίξουμε το φως που χρειάζεται. Το διήγημα είναι μικρό αλλά με μεγάλο λογοτεχνικό εκτόπισμα. Εξαιρετική η μετάφραση του Άρη Μαραγκόπουλου και πολύ ενδιαφέροντα τα εισαγωγικά στοιχεία.
  5/5
• 
  Inderjit Sanghera

  ‘Moderto Cantabile’ is the somewhat innocuous story of two strangers, Anne Desbaresdes and Chauvin, who meet at a seedy café every day for a week, following the murder of a young woman by her love outside that café. The sparseness of the language coalesces with the repetition of various symbols (the sunset, a magnolia flower and tugboats) which only serve to add to the ambiguity which underlines the characters motivations and actions. Take for example the description of the various sky-scapes and sunsets which take place during the week in which the novel is set, for example the description of the sunset as Anne Desbaresdes’s recalcitrant son is sullenly undertaking his music lesson ; “The colour of the sunset suddenly became so magnificent it changed the gold of the child’s hair…the pink sky exploded in a final burst of colour.” Though this beautiful image, iridising with Anne’s love for her son is soon interrupted by “Dusk began to sweep over the sea. And the sky slowly darkened, except for the red in the west, till that faded as well…” as the murder takes place.
  Anne is fascinated by the murder and visits the café outside which the murder took place and there meets the sullen and sinister, yet strangely seductive, Chauvin, who regales her with the fictional account as to why the man murdered his lover. Anne is drawn in by his stories, the sexual attraction and possible relationship between the two is symbolised by the repetition of various scenes, such as the sunset and sunlight; “The sun as so low in the sky that it shone on the man’s face. His body, leaning lightly against the bar, had been bathed in it for some time.” and “The southern sky was darkened by black streaks, ochre clouds spewed skywards by the foundries.” and “The sunset was a welter of even brighter yellow on the far wall. As often at sunset, the clouds billowed in fat clusters in the still sky, revealing he last fiery rays of the sun…” at the culmination point in the couple’s relationship as they share a cold kiss which puts the embers on the dying flames of their passion. The passion does, however, reach its crescendo the night before when Anne is hosting a dinner party and Chauvin is stalking outside the house, drawn in by the scent of the magnolia which she is keeping on her breast, whose lascivious scent shocks and scandalizes the dinner guests but is carried down-wind to the nose of Chauvin, the scene reaches its climax in a scene of sexual ambiguity, in which we wonder whether he did visit her at night after the dinner party or whether the scenes he describes of him watching her movements in her house are as fictional as the tales they spin about the murdered woman and her lover.
  ‘Moderato Cantabile’ is a novel of ambiguities, of half-spoken emotions in which the reader is constantly unsure as to what actually happened and how much of the action takes place in the imagination of the two lead characters. It is a novel in which only two characters really exist, in which all of the other characters serve as symbols of or for the characters emotions, in which the endless repetition of certain scenes and motifs only serve to add to the uncertainty which permeates the story. Superficial comparisons can be made to writers from the nouveau roman, especially writers such as Robbe-Grillet, but these comparisons would undermine the startling originality of Dumas’s style.
  
• 
  Théo d'Or

  Read forty years ago, I forgot everything, I vaguely remember a piano, and a child my age since then , who took piano lessons.
  I remember that, because
  at that time I was crazy about the piano, not that I wouldn't be even today.
  I would like to reread it, but I would not read the presentation, I'd like to see if I still recognise myself in that child..And if he has progressed, since then..
• 
  annelitterarum

  Le genre d’histoire qui m’a toujours beaucoup accrochée en littérature! Un livre bref mais fort pour son atmosphère, qui nous intrigue beaucoup. Cependant, le dénouement est assez prévisible… j’anticipe tout de même l’analyse que je pourrai en faire en classe.
• 
  Ilse

  'La communication humaine: seul moyen de supporter la réalité, et peut-être d'en changer'.
  
  (review under construction)
• 
  Steven Godin

  Having taken a keen interest in the work of Marguerite Duras after reading 'The Lover' and 'Hiroshima mon amour' I gave this beguiling novella a go. And wasn't disappointed. It is a book that is hard to pin down in terms of genre, and I am not even entirely sure I made full sense of it. What I do know, is that I couldn't put it down, and was strangely transfixed through to it's conclusion. The story first appears a very simple one. A woman, Anne Desbaresdes, takes her young son to piano lessons every Friday. On one particular Friday, shortly after the piano lesson is finished, she hears a scream from the café below the piano teacher’s apartment. A crowd has gathered and a man is sitting on the floor of the café, a woman next to him, whom he has murdered. Now this sounds like the territory of a mystery style thriller, and it partly is. But It is more about the power of passion, possession, obsession, and existence, with maybe a hint of existentialism in there too. I don't want to go into any more details, as it's a short book, I could practically give everything away. I have read quite a bit of her work since writing this review, and would say this is in my top three Duras books so far. An atmospheric and intriguing read.
  
• 
  Pejman

  مدراتو کانتابیله بهترین اثر دوراس و بهترین رمان نویی ست که خوانده ام
  :ویژگیهای برجسته تر رمان نو و البته کارهای دوراس اینهاست به نظرم
  حمله به شیوه های رمان های کلاسیک و رئالیسم
  حذف حادثه
  حذف شخصیت پردازی سنتی
  حذف طرح و پیرنگ
  تغییر شکل و شیوه ی روایت
  تغییر شیوه دیالوگ نویسی
  پرسه
  شیء شدن انسان
  ارزش بسیار اشیا
  ارزش مکان
  تکرار
  ملال ملال ملال
  .
  چیزی یادم آمد اضافه می کنم
  ..
  
  :چند تا ویژگی دیگررمان نو
  عدم وضوح
  خاطره(بسیار مدیون سبک پروست)
  حذف قهرمان
  انفعال و شی گونگی(نزدیک به بکت)
  تصویر(تاثیر سینما)
  بی نظمی در برابر نظم کلاسیک
  کاربرد انواع زمان(مدرنیستها، جویس و پروست و فاکنر و وولف)
  شش مرداد نودونه
• 
  Nate D

  There's s kind of simple, fine-honed perfection to Duras' constructions. Nothing on the surface of her stories ever really breaks through the calm shell, they're almost soothing in cadence and repetition of details. Perfect calm is deceptive, however -- they're seething underneath. And so: a careful progression that begins with a death and a piano lesson, a series of meetings, a dinner party flailing inside and out, a fading into eternal unresolution.
• 
  Pascal Laprade

  Modéré et chantant. Le titre sied parfaitement au livre. Modéré dans son discours (on ne sait pas tout, on ne sait pas rien, on ne sait que ce qu'il faut), modéré dans ses ardeurs (ni passion, ni fadeur, mais une justesse absolue), chantant, chantant (par sa forme cyclique, du retour et de l'habitude, et de la répétition, encore). Le livre est absolument magnifique, tremblant de justesse, stylistiquement jouissif, poétiquement autonome. Au fil des pages, le lecteur averti se rend compte que l'important n'est pas ce qui se passe, mais que ça se passe, et les mots qui le disent. Puisque c'est un roman du dire, du devoir dire. Ce qui compte c'est que la voix ne s'éteigne pas, que la vie ne s'arrête pas, pour qu'elle continue à parler de la mort, excuse du récit pour se tenir. Vraiment, un tour de force de Marguerite Duras et un pur plaisir à lire quand on n'est pas trop attaché aux textes "traditionnels".
• 
  Edita

  Anne Desbaresdes continues to smile and say nothing. The man has decided to leave the garden and walk to the edge of town. As he goes, the scent of the magnolias grows fainter, giving way to the smell of the sea.
  Anne Desbaresdes will accept a little coffee ice cream, for the sake of appearances.
  In spite of himself the man will retrace his steps. Again he sees the magnolias, the railings, the bay windows in the distance, still lit, still lit. On his lips, the song heard that afternoon, and the name that he will utter a little louder this time. He will come.
  She knows it. The magnolia at her breast's completely wilted. In one hour it has lived through a whole summer. Sooner or later the man will pass by the garden. He has come. She keeps torturing the flower at her breast.
• 
  Miss Ravi

  رمان را که می‌خوانی احساس می‌کنی همه‌چیز تصویر محوی از خودش است. زن و پسر بچه، مردی که به ندرت چیزی درباره خودش می‌گوید و صدای بوق کارخانه که از هر جایی که زن باشد به گوش می‌رسد. میان آنچه نویسنده می‌گوید و آنچه خواننده می‌خواند فاصله‌ای هست. انگار نویسنده نمی‌خواهد مستقیم و دقیق و واضح از چیزی که توی سرش بوده حرف بزند. روایت یک دست و ساده پیش می‌رود تا اینکه فصل ضیاف�� شام شروع می‌شود. آن فصل شبیه شکافی است، دره‌ای که باید با احتیاط ازش بگذری. و احتمالاً بخش مهمی از کلیت رمان را باید مختصر و فشرده در این فصل پیدا کرد. با آن آداب عجیب و توصیفاتی که خوردن را به کاری مشتمئزکننده تبدیل می‌کند و زن که در انتها همه را بالا می‌آورد. برای من فضای رمان‌های دوراس غریبند همیشه. انگار داری تصویری زیبا را از دور تماشا می‌کنی و قرار نیست با نزدیکتر شدنت، آن تصویر واضح‌تر شود. باید خودت آن معنای شفاف را از درون همین تصویر تار پیدا کنی.
• 
  Ola Al-Najres

  
  
  يوحي تصرفه معها كما لو أنه لم يعد يهمه منذ ذلك الحين أن تكون حية أو ميتة .
  هل تعتقد أن من الممكن بلوغ هذه الدرجة عن طريق آخر غير اليأس ؟
  
• 
  مِستر کثافت درونگرا

  اولین بار بود این سبک قلم رو خوندم
  دیالوگی بی اهمیت و روزمره و بشدّت ساده از یک زن و مرد که بیشتر ملاقاتاشونم در کافه ایی صورت میگیره
  خلق این عشق ناپایان و پایان داستانی عجیب قابل تحسینه
  دمت گرم خانم دوراس
• 
  Elham

  Impressive. The strong style of Marguerite Duras can be seen in this little novel.
• 
  Vasileios

  
  https://www.vintagestories.gr/moderat...
  
  Moderato Cantabile (εκδόσεις Τόπος, 2017), ίσως το καλύτερο βιβλίο της Μαργκερίτ Ντιράς. Δύο άγνωστοι μεταξύ τους ήρωες ξεπροβάλλουν σε αυτό, εγκλωβισμένοι στα προσωπικά τους δράματα, και προσπαθούν να ελέγξουν τις επιθυμίες τους για ζωή.
  
  Μπορείς να το θυμάσαι μια για πάντα, Moderato θα πει μετρημένα, και cantabile θα πει τραγουδιστά, είναι εύκολο.
  
  Μετρημένα, όπως η ζωή της Άννα Ντεμπαρέντ. Η Άννα είναι παντρεμένη με ένα πλούσιο επιχειρηματία για τον οποίο δεν μαθαίνουμε και πολλά· μαζί έχουν ένα μικρό αγόρι. Μητέρα και γιος είναι τα πρόσωπα με τα οποία η Ντιράς θα ζωγραφίσει τον λογοτεχνικό καμβά της.
  
  Μαζί πηγαίνουν στην άλλη άκρη της επαρχιακής πόλης όπου το αγόρι κάνει μαθήματα πιάνο. Στα μαθήματα αυτά η Άννα τον παρακολουθεί με μεγάλη πλήξη. Ούτε το παιδί δεν φαίνεται να λατρεύει αυτό που κάνει, αλλά αυτό δεν επηρεάζει τη μητέρα του και τη δασκάλα του. Κυριαρχεί η υποχρέωση για αυτό.
  
  Η αυστηρή δασκάλα τού κάνει διάφορες ερωτήσεις για τη σονατίνα Moderato Cantabile του Ντιαμπέλι, αλλά το παιδί δεν φαίνεται να ξέρει τι σημαίνει αυτό που μελετά, κι όσο κι αν γυροφέρνουν τη συζήτηση δεν απαντά σωστά… Μπορεί να το κάνει και επίτηδες, αφού δεν φαίνεται να θέλει να παίξει τον ρόλο του καλού μαθητή.
  
  Κατά τη διάρκεια ενός μαθήματος όμως, ένα ξαφνικό γεγονός θα τους αναγκάσει να το διακόψουν. Κάτω ακριβώς από το σπίτι της δασκάλας, υπάρχει ένα καφέ στο οποίο φαίνεται μόλις να πραγματοποιήθηκε ένα έγκλημα πάθους· ένας άντρας μόλις σκότωσε την ερωμένη του.
  
  Σοκαρισμένη η Άννα από το γεγονός, κι έχοντας την τεράστια περιέργεια να μάθει όλες τις λεπτομέρειες του αποτρόπαιου εγκλήματος θα επισκεφτεί το καφέ μαζί με τον γιο της και εκεί θα γνωρίσει τον Σοβέν, έναν πρώην εργαζόμενο από το εργοστάσιο του συζύγου της. Δύο άνθρωποι από τελείως διαφορετικούς κόσμους θα έρθουν πιο κοντά, με φόντο ένα περίεργο έγκλημα πάθους.
  
  Γιατί ο άντρας αφαίρεσε τη ζωή της ερωμένης του; Τι σκεφτόταν όταν το έκανε; Ήταν αλήθεια ότι η ίδια του το ζήτησε;
  
  Εξερευνώντας τις πιο σκοτεινές σκέψεις ενός δολοφόνου, εξερευνούν μαζί τις πιο μύχιες σκέψεις τους, σε μια γνωριμία που θα εξελιχθεί σε ένα παιχνίδι αναγνώρισης, αποδοχής του άλλου και των πιο κρυφών επιθυμιών τους.
  
  Συνέχεια >
  https://www.vintagestories.gr/moderat...
• 
  Jerrica

  Quintessentially French elements that I encountered in this book as well as one or more other French books I've read in my short time as a student of French:
  
  1. Repressed wife who longs for sexual liberation.
  2. Excessive drinking of red wine by sexually repressed wife but also by others.
  3. Husband who just doesn't "get it." Not usually evil, just sort of...there, which is evil enough. Extra points if he's never named because he's THAT useless.
  4. Young child whom the sexually repressed wife loves even though he/she represents the oppressive lifestyle she wishes to escape. Extra points if they're never named also because they're more important as a symbol than as a person.
  5. Climactic scene where repressed wife reveals how repressed she feels much to the horror of dinner guests/family members.
  6. Everyone speaks French, much to the horror of me.
  7. Heavy-handed condemnation of the bourgeois lifestyle.
  
  I should make some sort of bingo board for this.
• 
  baQer (BFZ)

  آیا کلمات، به آنچه انسان می‌خواهد به وسیله‌‌ی آن‌ها بیان کند خیانت نمی‌کند؟
  page 130
• 
  Reid

  The discovery of Marguerite Duras was a revelation for me. I first discovered her when I read the screenplay for Hiroshima, Mon Amour (literally, Hiroshima, My Beloved). Granted, one experiences a story differently when one reads a screenplay instead of a novel, but there was a greater sense of immediacy to the internal conflicts at play in the story than I was used to. Gone were the usual tropes used for introducing characters, making sure we knew who they were, and giving us the hook for the next scene. Instead, I was treated to a story that gradually revealed itself to us, as if we were sitting in the corner observing the characters for a few days in their lives. In Hiroshima, through a series of conversations, we discovered the heroine's tragic love in her past, and of her humiliating punishment that ensued as a result.
  
  Reading Hiroshima, Mon Amour prepared me for Moderato Cantabile by introducing some of Duras' trademarks -- extended one-on-one conversations between a man and a woman, suppressed emotions and the emotional cost of social mores. Moderato Cantabile was Duras' first financial success; it is credited (
  in the Wiki entry) as the book which really launched her career. One doesn't always think of European novelists as needing financial success -- perhaps we suspect they are all subsidized somehow -- so it is reassuring that this demanding, highly personal story could find an audience.
  
  The setting is vague; it is an unnamed factory town, presumably in France, as the regulars from her Indochinese novels, such as Anne-Marie Stretter, are not mentioned. The leading character is Anne, the bourgeois wife of the richest man in town. (Again, we are not told this at the start; we discover it as the story progresses.) As the story begins, Anne is enduring her son's piano lesson at the apartment of Mademoiselle Giraud -- one of the few named characters in the book. (Even the son is not named, as he is more of a symbol than an animating force in the story.) The piano lesson is an exercise in futility; the teacher becomes frustrated, "suddenly aware of the sterility of her own existence"— and this is an awakening that will soon resonate with Anne.
  
  The lesson is interrupted by a distant scream, and since there is no point continuing, Anne and her son hurry down and see a crowd gathered outside a local cafe, where a woman was attacked and killed in broad daylight.
  
  As with an ordinary noir crime novel, Anne begins talking to a man who apparently witnessed the crime. But it is here where Duras the novelist surfaces, because this is a psychological drama, not a detective story, and the two main characters are not related to either the victim or to the killer. Rather, the murder is a random event that sparks a relationship between them.
  
  The man Anne talks to is Chauvin -- an unemployed factory worker, who was also at the cafe when the crime occurred. He tells her about the crime in enigmatic tones, giving the distinct impression that the woman was murdered by her lover. We are not sure how much he witnessed and how much he is embellishing.
  
  Anne and Chauvin don't introduce themselves during this conversation, which is not surprising at first; in most situations like this, two bystanders to a crime will not form a relationship just because of the shared experience. But when Anne returns to the same cafe the next day, Chauvin is there, and they start a second conversation -- mostly about the crime, which is of course fresh in their minds, but soon they are talking about themselves and each other. A strange kind of trust is developing between them. In spite of disapproving glances of the patronne of the cafe (and presumably others), Anne will continue to see Chauvin at the cafe over the next few days.
  
  My first impression when I read this was that Anne and Chauvin had had an illicit affair in the past, and that they had an accidental reunion at the murder scene. (I even considered that her son, who is described as both her "shame," (honte) and her treasure, might be Chauvin's.) Anne seizes on her relationship with Chauvin as a way of breaking the monotony of her life, and of escaping the influence of her husband, who looms over her like a prison warden. (It is noteworthy that Anne is summoned home by the same factory whistle that tells workers when to finish work for the day.)
  
  The conversations between Chauvin and Anne bring about an awareness and a desperation in Anne that culminate in an embarrassing, even scandalous faux pas at a dinner party later that week, when the hidden tensions in her life -- the yearning to break from repetition, the fleeting freedoms that she can see in others' lives -- come to the surface.
  
  Social standing is very important in Duras' books, and so are scandals; nowadays, words like "scandal" and its bastard cousin, "controversy," have both lost their punch, but in Duras' novels, like The North China Lover and The Ravishing of Lol Stein, they are paramount, as are their repercussions and the whispers that follow people around like a shadow. (In Duras' novella The Vice-Consul, the title character arrives in town having fled his previous posting due to a nervous breakdown, and rumours abound that the Vice-Consul was in an altercation and gunshots were fired...) Here we are treated to the gradual pressures that cause characters to fall out of favour with their social cliques. It seems like Anne is playing with fire: she risks being shunned as a result of her semi-affair. Characters observe Anne having coffee with Chauvin and give quiet glances of disapproval, the same way they whispered about Lol Stein in that eponymous novel. But Anne walks down the long boulevard from her mansion into town to allow herself to be seen with this labourer in an attempt to seize some of the freedom she perceives in others--in an attempt to "break the sterility" that she sees in her life.
  
  In this novel, taking place as it does in France (as opposed to her childhood home of Indochina), there is no explicit theme of colonization; but there is the theme of domination and suppression and the emotional toll they can take on people who are supposedly privileged (by wealth in this case).
  
  I tend to relish books like this because they are the culmination of author's struggle to come to terms with some aspect of life that troubles them on a personal level. One can look at a Duras novel and say, clearly, this woman wrote because she had something important to say, and this is not applicable to a celebrity who is just trying to build their brand by having a ghost writer crank out their "memoirs."
  
  Duras expects you to put a little work into her novels; this novella, in addition to The Square, features long passages of conversation wherein captions are not used to tell us who is speaking. We are expected to keep track of who is speaking, based on what they are revealing about what is consuming them beneath the surface. But the extra effort Duras demands of a reader will be worth it; the characters are embarking on missions of self-discovery because of a personal realization about their lives, and not because of some external mission.
• 
  El Bibliófilo

  My comments:
  https://youtu.be/UnnsipCm224
  
  Eternal return. Infidelity as a crime.
  This work by the French writer reminded me of a story by Cortázar (does anyone know the name?), where an eternal return (Nietzsche) manifests itself, because the drama is archetypal and universal. But like the works I have read by Marguerite, this one also shows powerful poetic images, which perhaps with a psychoanalysis shows us the unconscious-sea, a fortuitous event that reveals it to us and activates our desires, and a free act (crime-infidelity) that overwhelms us (vomit), leaving us as spectators of the consequences of our actions. The powerful narrative of the writer makes us participate by leaving everything suggested, and also leaving the mystery veiled (leaving us with many doubts); something that is lost in the film. I await your comments
  
  Eterno retorno. La infidelidad como un crimen.
  Esta obra de la escritora francesa me recordó un cuento de Cortázar (¿alguien sabe el nombre?), donde se manifiesta un eterno retorno (Nietzsche), porque el drama resulta arquetípico y universal. Pero como las obras que he leído de Marguerite, esta también muestra imágenes poéticas potentes, que acaso con un psicoanálisis nos muestra el mar-inconsciente, un hecho fortuito que nos lo revela y activa nuestros deseos, y un acto libre (crimen-infidelidad) que nos desborda (vómito), dejándonos como espectadores de las consecuencias de nuestros actos. La poderosa narrativa de la escritora nos hace partícipes al dejarnos todo sugerido, y también dejando velado el misterio (dejándonos muchas dudas); algo que en la película se pierde. Espero sus comentarios
• 
  Marion Grabagoodbook

  Une leçon de piano. Un enfant, sa mère, sa professeure. Et puis un cri de femme et un attroupement dans le café en bas de l’immeuble. Un assassinat, elle vient d’être tuée par son mari.
  La femme reviendra dans le café le lendemain puis le surlendemain. Sorte de curiosité morbide, de soif maladive de revenir sur les lieux d’un crime qui l’obsède. Troublant, saisissant.
  C’est sûrement tout ou rien, on accroche ou non. Il y aurait plein de choses à redire. Des éléments qui ne m’avaient sans doute pas frappée en première lecture en 2011 (déjà).
  Mais l’ambiance est étouffante, pesante, haletante. La plume de Duras délicate, précise. Et ce livre nous laisse avec un goût étrange de trop et de trop peu à la fois.
• 
  MJ Nicholls

  A slim, seductive novel, sort of a nouveau roman version of Brief Encounter. Anne Desbaresdes meets Chauvin after a shooting heard at her son’s piano lesson, where she sits in with the haughty Mademoiselle Giraud, urging her stubborn son to play a Diabelli sontana moderato cantabile (moderately and singingly). We later learn Anne is a drunk and is desperately in love with Chauvin, but nothing is ever said—only the poetic, slippery prose helps make the subtext clear, and the ending quietly heartbreaking. The wiki page on this book is
  oddly detailed.
• 
  Adriana

  Cartea asta e un fel special de tăcere.
  
  Tăcerea efemeră ce există numai între notele unei sonate cântate la pian de un copil, într-o după-amiază însorită.
  
  Tăcerea îngrozită şi surprinsă care îi copleşeşte pe martorii unei crime pasionale.
  
  Tăcerea unui surâs sau a unei mâini întinse pe jumătate, care nu ştie dacă cealaltă mână va veni în întâmpinarea ei.
  
  Tăcerea grea ce se aşterne între două priviri pasionate, care nu au nevoie de cuvinte. Niciodată.
  
  Cartea asta e o odă sublimă închinată lui Niciodată.