<i>India Song’s</i> (Meta)Tempo: Reflections on slowness

Abstract

Marguerite Duras’ book India Song, described by the author as a “text theatre film” and, therefore, with an emphasis on its semiotic plurality aspect contains many different strategies of time coordination, which can be compared to those typically found in the field of musical composition. In this context, it is possible to establish (in the verbal field) a comparison with the musical concept of tempo. The dominant tempo is slow. In this analysis, the slowness is approached in three complementary levels: figurative (the figure of the ventilator as an index of meta-tempo); symbolic (the constitution of the place (lieu) as a symbolic space of representation); and generative (the slowness as a generative process). Keywords: Marguerite Duras. French Literature 20th Century. Literature and Music.