Nobels: 2014: Patrick Modiano

pic by Frankie Fouganthin CC BY-SA 4.0

Patrick Modiano is a French writer with a complex racial background. His novels are said to frequently explore questions of identity and memory, particularly with reference to French history during the second world war. His Nobel citation referred to "the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the Occupation".

It's no surprise to find that he was a pupil of Raymond Queneau, and as well as that writer, I picked up reminiscences of Michel Butor and Georges Perec. I should have heard of him but, like most people outside France, hadn't until he won the prize.

The book that I read for this entry, Rue des Boutiques Obscures (translated into English as Missing Person) is fairly short, around 250 generously spaced pages, and easy to read: any philosophy is woven lightly into the narrative. It won the Prix Goncourt in 1978.

The basic story is of a narrator, initially known as Guy Roland, who has suffered amnesia and is trying to piece together his earlier life. He frames the question as one of identity (the opening sentence is "Je ne suis rien"/"I am nothing") and his initial search is for a name to give himself.

As the quest goes on, the reader is more interested in the question of why he has forgotten everything, a question that is only partially answered.

The book uses a variety of narrative techniques, from straightforward first person narration, unattributed third-person passages, and documentation. Set mainly in Paris, it also travels to Megeve in the French Alps for one of the most atmospheric sections.

Like Perec's La Disparition there's a hidden theme, a void at the heart of the book, the unspoken horror that might explain the amnesia. An amnesia which we can transfer to the whole of French post-war history, I think.

The writing isn't always perfect. There are some tics that irritate. No character is introduced without a perfunctory description of the colour of their hair, and minor characters tend to be greyish men of around sixty, with no other attributes.

But on the whole it's a really good, provocative book. I would be tempted to read more by Modiano.