The Nobel Prize in Literature 2014 for Patrick Modiano

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2014 is awarded to the French author Patrick Modiano – “for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation”.

Patrick Modiano was born on July 30, 1945, in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburb of Paris. His father was a businessman and his mother an actress. Having left school, he studied at Lycée Henri-IV in Paris, where his teacher in geometry was Raymond Queneau, a writer who was to play a decisive role for his development. Already in 1968, Modiano made his debut as a writer with La place de l’étoile, a novel that attracted much attention.

Modiano’s works centre on topics such as memory, oblivion, identity and guilt. The city of Paris is often present in the text and can almost be considered a creative participant in the works. Rather often his tales are built on an autobiographical foundation, or on events that took place during the German occupation. He sometimes draws material for his works from interviews, newspaper articles or own notes which he has accumulated over the years. His novels show an affinity with one another, and it happens that earlier episodes are extended or that persons recur in different tales. The author’s home town and its history often serve to link the tales together. A work of documentary character, with World War II as background, is Dora Bruder (1997; Dora Bruder, 1999) which builds on the true tale of a fifteen-year old girl in Paris who becomes one of the victims of the Holocaust. Among the works which most clearly reveal an autobiographical character one notes Un pedigree from 2005.

Some of Modiano’s works have been translated into English, among them Les boulevards de ceinture (1972; Ring Roads : A Novel, 1974), Villa Triste (1975; Villa Triste, 1977), Quartier perdu (1984; A Trace of Malice, 1988) and Voyage de noces (1990; Honeymoon, 1992). His latest work is the novel Pour que tu ne te perdes pas dans le quartier (2014). Modiano has also written children’s books and film scripts. Together with the film director Louis Malle he made the feature movie Lacombe Lucien (1974), enacted during the German occupation of France.

Works
La place de l’étoile. – Paris : Gallimard, 1968
La ronde de nuit. – Paris : Gallimard, 1969
Les boulevards de ceinture. – Paris : Gallimard, 1972
Lacombe Lucien : scénario / pour le film de Louis Malle. – Paris : Gallimard, 1974
Villa Triste. – Paris : Gallimard, 1975
Emmanuel Berl : Interrogatoire / par Patrick Modiano ; suivi de Il fait beau, allons au cimitière / Emmanuel Berl. – Paris : Gallimard, 1976
Livret de famille. – Paris : Gallimard, 1977
Rue des boutiques obscures. – Paris : Gallimard, 1978
Une jeunesse. – Paris : Gallimard, 1981
Memory Lane / ill. de Pierre Le-Tan. – Paris : Hachette, 1981
De si braves garçons. – Paris : Gallimard, 1982
Poupée blonde de Pierre Michel Wals / ill. de Pierre Le-Tan. – Paris : POL, 1983
Quartier perdu. – Paris : Gallimard, 1984
Une aventure de Choura / ill. de Dominique Zehrfuss. – Paris : Gallimard Jeunesse, 1986
Dimanches d’août. – Paris : Gallimard, 1986
Une fiancée pour Choura /ill. de Dominique Zehrfuss. – Paris : Gallimard Jeunesse, 1987
Remise de peine. – Paris : Le Seuil, 1988
Catherine Certitude / ill. de Jean-Jacques Sempe. – Paris : Gallimard, 1988
Vestiaire de l’enfance. – Paris : Gallimard, 1989
Voyage de noces. – Paris : Gallimard, 1990
Paris tendresse / photogr.: Brassaï ; texte: Modiano. – Hoëbeke, 1990
Fleurs de ruine. – Paris : Le Seuil, 1991
Un cirque passe. – Paris : Gallimard, 1992
Chien de printemps. – Paris : Seuil, 1993
Du plus loin de l’oubli. – Paris : Gallimard, 1995
Elle s’appelait Françoise / Catherine Deneuve, Patrick Modiano. – Paris : Canal plus, 1996
Dora Bruder. – Paris : Gallimard, 1997
Aux jours anciens. – Paris : Elle, 1998
Des inconnues. – Paris : Gallimard, 1999
La Petite Bijou. – Paris : Gallimard, 2001
Éphéméride / ill. de Robert Doisneau, Louis Stettner ; supplément au Le Monde. – Paris : Gallimard, 2001. [Deuxième version enrichit le premier: – Paris : Mercure de France, 2002]
Accident nocturne. – Paris : Gallimard, 2003
Dieu prend-il soin des boeufs? / ill. de Gérard Garouste. – La Combe-Les Eparres : Éd. de l’Acacia, 2003
Un pedigree. – Paris : Gallimard, 2005
28 Paradis / Dominique Zehrfuss, Patrick Modiano. – Paris : Éd. de l’Olivier, 2005
Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue. – Paris : Gallimard, 2007
L’horizon. – Paris : Gallimard, 2010
L’herbe des nuits. – Paris : Gallimard, 2012
28 Paradis, 28 Enfers / Dominique Zehrfuss, Patrick Modiano, Marie Modiano. – Paris : Gallimard, 2012
Romans. (Réunit dix romans de Patrick Modiano.) – Paris : Gallimard, 2013
Pour que tu ne te perdes pas dans le quartier. – Paris : Gallimard, 2014

# Source: website The Nobel Prize

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