STOCKHOLM (AP) — Patrick Modiano of France, who has made a lifelong study of the Nazi’s rule and its effects on his country, won the 2014 Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday. The Swedish Academy gave the 8 million-kronor ($1.1 million) prize to Modiano for making people remember “the most ungraspable human destinies” and uncovering the world of life behind the Nazi’s control.
Modiano, 69, whose novel “Missing Person” won the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 1978, was born in a west Paris suburb in July 1945, two months after World War II ended in Europe. His father was of Jewish-Italian origins and met his Belgian actress mother during the occupation of Paris.
Modiano, who lives in Paris, rarely accepts interviews. He has published more than 40 works in French, some of which have been translated into English, including “Ring of Roads: A Novel,” “Villa Triste,” “A Trace of Malice,” and “Honeymoon.” He has also written children’s books and film scripts, including co-writing the 1974 movie “Lacombe, Lucien” with director Louis Malle and the 2003 movie “Bon Voyage” with director Jean-Paul Rappeneau.
Dervila Cooke of Dublin City University, author of a book on Modiano, said his works dealt with the traumas of France’s past but have a “darkly humorous touch.”
Peter Englund, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy said Modiano’s works often explore the themes of time, memory and identity. “He is returning to the same topics again and again simply because these topics, you can’t exhaust them,” Englund told journalists in Stockholm. “You can’t give a definite answer to: Why did I turn into the person I am today? What happened to me? How will I break out of the weight of time? How can I reach back into past times?”
Englund said Modiano also likes to play with the detective style. In “Missing Person” he wrote about a private detective who is about to launch his last investigation — finding out who he is because he has completely lost his memory.
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