SOURCE: “Language as Ritual in Marguerite Duras's ‘Moderato Cantabile,’” in Symposium, Vol. XXX, No. 3, Fall, 1976, pp. 236-59.

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.

The essential quality of the world of Marguerite Duras's Moderato Cantabile is sound. The sea, the wind, the radio in the café, the music lesson, the sound of the factory whistle, and, of course, the scream of the dying woman are the elements which define the novel's atmosphere and structure its essential pattern of meaning.

The nexus of sensual impressions Duras creates contrasts with the language through which her characters attempt to comprehend their world. Intertwined with the few descriptions is the dialogue which composes most of the novel. A...