Patrick Modiano

This book is an introduction to the work of Patrick Modiano, the Nobel-Prize-winning French contemporary author. Using a theoretical approach based on the work of Genette and Ricoeur, the study teases out the complexities of Modiano’s apparently simple narratives, showing how they skilfully weave together the fictional and historical to involve and draw the reader into the worlds of his novels, whether it be the murky labyrinth of the années noires or the amoral yet attractive landscape of the sixties. The book also discusses new aspects of Modiano’s post-2000 novels, such as the greater role played in them by women, the unexpected appearance of ideas from Nietzsche, and a meditation on the nature of time that owes much to – but is profoundly different from – that of his illustrious precursor, Proust.