Moderato Cantabile was the book that introduced me to Marguerite Duras a lifetime ago. I have read it twice before, but approached this third reading with a certain apprehension: could it, twenty years on, possibly be as wonderful as I remembered?
Each reading uncovers subtleties that escaped me the last time. What once seemed clear, becomes uncertain; what once seemed simple becomes layered. The book is often summarised, too simply, as the story of a distressed young man who murders the woman he loves in a café, watched by a large crowd. Yet as the tale opens up, even this account proves questionable. There are ambiguities, hesitations, spaces for alternative interpretations, both for the reader and for the protagonists themselves.
I hesitate to elucidate too much, unwilling to rob anyone of the thrill of slow revelation. Duras is subtle: no heavy-handed trickery, only a fierce, quiet intelligence at work, trusting the reader to live among the uncertainties she leaves unsolved.
>I am currently being introduced to Duras by reading "The Sailor from Gibraltar". Looks like "Moderato Cantabile" will have to be added to the list. It sounds great.
>Ah, wonderful; I've not yet readThe Sailor from Gibraltar but it is on order. It is considered one of Duras's major works, like Moderato Cantabile.
>You make this sound incredibly, Anthony! I feel Duras might be a bit above my head at the moment, but I'd definitely like to read this sometime.
>It is quite brilliant, Iris. I am sure you would enjoy it. If you want to get a feel for Duras, The Lover is a great starting point.
>This sounds fanTAStic! Must search for it in France. Love all the Duras posts popping up around the blogosphere of late.
>It is a remarkable book, Emily, and it demands multiple readings.
>I've loved everything of Duras's I've read, which is to say, not enough of her work as I hadn't even heard of this one! I'm going to find it. You've read The War, I think? Mind-blowing.
>No, Colleen, I haven't read The War, so thank you for the suggestion. I've added it to my list to read this year. I've just bought Duras's last autobiographical (of sorts) work No More. Her next fiction that I plan to read is The Sailor of Gibraltar.