Peter CostelloThe distinguished French novelist was a surprising choice for Nobel prize
The Nobel Prize for Literature for 2014 has been awarded by the Norwegian Academy to Patrick Modiano, the distinguished French novelist.
To many he was a surprising choice, for though there is little doubt about his literary standing, no book of his has been translated into English since Dora Bruder (Gallimard, 1997) appeared under the imprint of the University of California Press as The Death Warrant in 1999; it sold only 2,425 copies. This fact alone is a sign of just how cut off the Anglo-American world is becoming from the movements of European, indeed world, literature. His latest book, Pour que tu ne te perdes pas dans le quartier (So you Won’t Lose Yourself in the District), appeared earlier this year, and has yet to be translated.
The titles of these books are indicative of the nature of his work: nostalgic, deeply personal, constantly involved in attempting to explain the nature of human relations in the context of the German occupation of France, divided national loyalties, and the Holocaust for those of Jewish or partly Jewish identity. His father was a Sephardic Jew who denied being a Jew and passed his time during the occupation mingling with the Gestapo. He loathed his son’s writings. Un Pedigree (2004) explores his familial relations, not just with his father, but his much-loved brother.
Modiano began publishing, helped by his friends Raymond Queneau and Gaston Gallimard, at the end of the 1960s. His scenario for Louis Malle’s film Lacombe, Lucien, was the cause of controversy over its treatment of the occupation.
But his early novels, such as Rue des Boutiques Obscures, translated as Missing Person (Verba Mundi/David R. Godine, €10.80/£8.50), immediately won awards in many European countries.
‘Missing person’ seems to sum up the perennial theme of Modiano’s work.
The ultimate award of the Nobel Prize to an author born in 1945 should now see his true status receive its proper recognition in the English-speaking world.
