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Patrick Modiano, a Modern ‘Proust,’ Is Awarded Nobel in Literature
(about 9 hours later)
Patrick Modiano, the French novelist whose works often explore the traumas of the Nazi occupation of France and hinge on the themes of memory, loss and the puzzle of identity, won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday.
Patrick Modiano, the French writer whose moody, terse and occasionally dreamlike novels are often set during the Nazi occupation of France, won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday.
In an announcement in Stockholm, the Swedish Academy cited Mr. Modiano’s ability to evoke “the most ungraspable human destinies” in his work.
Peter Englund, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, called Mr. Modiano “a Marcel Proust of our time,” noting that his works resonate with one another thematically and are “always variations of the same thing, about memory, about loss, about identity, about seeking.”
Fans and publishers of Mr. Modiano, 69, celebrated his victory as a chance for him to finally gain international recognition for a body of work that spans nearly five decades, and as recognition of French literary glory in the tradition of fellow Nobelists Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus.
“This prize will help raise the global profile of one of our consummate writers,” said Anne Ghisoli, the director of Librairie Gallimard, a bookstore in Paris that is majority owned by Mr. Modiano’s publisher, Gallimard. “He is a master of writing on memory and occupation, which haunt and inform his work. He is a chronicler of Paris, its streets, its past and its present.”
President François Hollande congratulated Mr. Modiano, saying in a statement: “The republic is proud of the recognition, through this Nobel Prize, of one of our greatest writers. Patrick Modiano is the 15th French person to receive this eminent distinction, confirming the great influence of our literature.”
Mr. Modiano, who has published about 30 works, including novels, children’s books and screenplays, rose to prominence in 1968 with his novel, “La Place de l’Étoile.” Many of his fictional works are set in Paris during World War II, and some play with the detective genre. His works have been translated around the world, and about a dozen of his books have been translated into English. But he is not widely known outside France. One of his novels, “Missing Person,” won the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 1978, but has sold just 2,425 copies in the United States.
In France, Mr. Modiano’s books are widely read, in part because of their pithy and compact style. His most famous works include “Missing Person,” an existential thriller about a man who travels the world trying to piece together his identity; “Dora Bruder,” which investigates the disappearance of a Jewish girl in 1941; and “Out of the Dark,” a hallucinatory novel narrated by a middle-aged writer reflecting on an affair with a young drifter.
The Nobel academy was unable to reach Mr. Modiano before the announcement. During a halting, nearly hourlong news conference at Gallimard’s headquarters, Mr. Modiano said he learned he had won when his daughter called him as he was walking in the street. “I was a bit surprised, so I continued walking,” he said. He said winning the prize felt “unreal” and that he vividly remembered when Camus won the Nobel for literature in 1957. (Sartre won in 1964.) He also expressed puzzlement over being chosen. “I would like to know how they explained their choice,” he said. Mr. Modiano was born in a Paris suburb in July 1945, in the immediate aftermath of World War II. His mother, a Belgian actress, met his Jewish-Italian father during the occupation of Paris. He has typically kept a low profile, avoiding the news media.
In a 2012 interview with Le Figaro, Mr. Modiano said that he had grown more comfortable talking about himself and his books. “At the beginning, I experienced writing as a sort of constraint,” he said. “Starting so young as a writer is pitiable, it’s beyond your powers, you have to lay bare things that are very heavy, and you don’t have the means for that. When I recently looked at my early manuscripts, I was struck by the absence of space, of breathing room.”
Asked if he felt that he had evolved as a writer, he added: “No, not really. The feeling of dissatisfaction with every book remains just as alive. I had a longtime recurring dream: I dreamed that I had nothing left to write, that I was liberated. I am not, alas. I am still trying to clear the same terrain, with the feeling that I’ll never get done.”
The Nobel, one of the most prestigious and financially generous awards in the world, comes with a $1.1 million prize. The literature prize is given out for a lifetime of writing rather than for a single work.
The Nobel, one of the most prestigious and financially generous awards in the world, comes with a $1.1 million prize. The literature prize is given out for a lifetime of writing rather than for a single work.
Mr. Modiano, who has published about 30 works, has written novels, children’s books and screenplays, first rose to prominence in 1968 with his novel “La Place de l’Étoile.”
Recent Nobel laureates in literature have included the Canadian short-story writer Alice Munro in 2013; the Chinese novelist Mo Yan in 2012; the Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer in 2011; and the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa in 2010. The last American writer to win was Toni Morrison, in 1993.
Many of his fictional works are set in Paris during World War II, and some play with the detective genre. His works have been translated around the world, and about a dozen of his books have been translated into English, but he is not widely known outside France.
The Nobel committee has drawn criticism in the past for shunning authors whose works are widely read in favor of obscure Eurocentric writers. The selection of Ms. Munro last year was celebrated by many in the literary community as a sign that the academy was embracing more mainstream and popular authors. But in choosing Mr. Modiano, the academy seems to be shrugging off the critics.
In a news conference after the announcement, Peter Englund, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, called Mr. Modiano, “a Marcel Proust of our time,” noting that his works resonate with one another thematically and are “always variations of the same thing, about memory, about loss, about identity, about seeking.”
The Nobel will surely help his sales. Mr. Modiano’s French publisher announced that the company would print an additional 100,000 copies of his books. In the United States, the small publisher David R. Godine, which has issued three of Mr. Modiano’s books, will print an additional 15,000 copies of the books. (To date, the three books — two novels and a children’s book — have collectively sold fewer than 8,000 copies in America.) After the prize was awarded, Yale University Press, which planned to publish a collection of three novellas by Mr. Modiano in February, moved the publication date of the collection to November, and increased the first printing to 20,000, up from 2,000.
In his native country, Mr. Modiano is a revered writer whose books, often coming in shorter than 200 pages, are widely read, in part because of their pithy and compact style. His most famous works include “Missing Person,” a story of an amnesiac detective who travels the world trying to piece together his identity; “Dora Bruder,” which investigates the disappearance of a young Jewish girl in 1941; and “Out of the Dark,” a moody, hallucinatory novel whose narrator pines after a former lover who has changed her name and denies that their affair took place. A 1999 New York Times review of “Out of the Dark” described it as “both suspenseful and contemplative.”
Mr. Modiano, speaking at the news conference, said receiving so much attention for his work after so many decades of writing in solitude seemed “a bit unreal.”
President François Hollande of France congratulated Mr. Modiano, saying in a statement that the prize recognizes “a considerable body of work which explores the subtleties of memory and the complexity of identity.” Mr. Hollande also said: “The Republic is proud of the recognition, through this Nobel Prize, of one of our greatest writers. Patrick Modiano is the 15th French person to receive this eminent distinction, confirming the great influence of our literature.”
“I have always felt,” he said, “like I’ve been writing the same book for the past 45 years.”
During a halting, nearly hour-long news conference at the headquarters of Gallimard, Mr. Modiano’s publisher in Paris, Mr. Modiano said he learned he had won when his daughter called him and he was walking in the street. “I was a bit surprised, so I continued walking,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting this at all.” He added, with his customary modesty, that he was curious about why the jury picked him, because it is hard for him as an author to judge his own work. “I have always felt like I’ve been writing the same book for the past 45 years,” he said. He confirmed that he would travel to Sweden to accept the prize.
“It is a profound surprise for us and a wonderful day,” Antoine Gallimard, Mr. Modiano’s editor, told the Agence France-Presse.
Mr. Modiano was born in a Paris suburb in July 1945, in the immediate aftermath of World War II. His mother, a Belgian actress, met his Jewish-Italian father during the occupation of Paris. Despite his rapid rise to literary fame — his novel “Missing Person” was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1978, one of France’s most prized literary awards — he has typically kept a low profile, avoiding the media.
In a 2012 interview with Le Figaro, Mr. Modiano said that over the decades, he had grown more comfortable talking about himself and his books. “At the beginning, I experienced writing as a sort of constraint,” he said. “Starting so young as a writer is pitiable, it's beyond your powers, you have to lay bare things that are very heavy, and you don’t have the means for that. When I recently looked at my early manuscripts, I was struck by the absence of space, of breathing room. It was my state of mind at the time – a sort of suffocation. Today, that tension is less present.”
Asked if he had the feeling that he had evolved as a writer, he added: “No, not really. The feeling of dissatisfaction with every book remains just as alive. I had a longtime recurring dream: I dreamt that I had nothing left to write, that I was liberated. I am not, alas, I am still trying to clear the same terrain, with the feeling that I’ll never get done.”
Recent winners for the literature prize have included the Canadian short-story writer Alice Munro in 2013; the Chinese novelist Mo Yan in 2012; the Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer in 2011; and the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa in 2010. The last American writer to win the Nobel in literature was Toni Morrison, in 1993.
Anne Ghisoli, the director of Librairie Gallimard, a leading bookstore in Paris that is majority owned by Mr. Modiano’s publisher, Gallimard, said that at a time of economic and social doldrums in France, Mr. Modiano’s award was a “happy surprise” and would help raise awareness of a writer better known in his home country than he is abroad.
“He has readers in France, and there is always interest in his books, which sell very well. But this prize will help raise the global profile of one of our consummate writers. He is a master of writing on memory and occupation, which haunt and inform his work. He is a chronicler of Paris, its streets, its past and its present.”
In a country often obsessed by past glories, she said, the Nobel award underlined that French contemporary culture was thriving. “This is good news from France and shows that, despite the depressing climate here, people are creating things and French contemporary fiction is alive and well,” she said.
An article in the French newspaper Le Monde argued that the Nobel award had “consecrated a 30-year literary career that chronicled Paris during the Second World War.” The newspaper described Mr. Modiano’s most recent novel, “So That You Don’t Get Lost in the Neighborhood,” as a deeply personal work that takes readers into the writer’s psyche as he tries to decipher the mysteries of his past and dissect his memories. “Here we find a lost child, in the 1950s, surrounded by louche people,” it said.
In choosing Mr. Modiano, the academy seems to be shrugging off criticism that the literature prize has often been too Eurocentric and tipped toward lesser-known writers who focus on political themes. The Nobel committee has drawn criticism in the past for shunning authors whose works are widely read in favor of more obscure writers. The selection of Ms. Munro last year was celebrated by many in the literary community as a sign that the academy was embracing more mainstream and popular authors.
The Swedish Academy, which has 18 members, including poets, novelists and literary scholars, has been more transparent about the selection process recently. Mr. Englund said in February that they had received 271 nominations for the literature prize this year and had whittled down the list to 210, which included 36 first-time nominees. Academy members chose a short list of five candidates whose work they studied over the summer.
In the past, the literature prize has been heavily weighted toward novelists: The prize has gone to 76 prose writers, 33 poets, 14 playwrights, three philosophers and essayists, and two historians.
