The French author Patrick Modiano picks up his Nobel Prize for Literature in Stockholm on Wednesday. Given that the first question asked by many outside France was "Who is Patrick Modiano? we’ve put together a list of ten things you need to know about him.
He may not be well known in the Anglo literary world but he certainly is in France, where he is considered one of the country’s most celebrated writers. His crowning moment before winning this year’s Nobel Literature Prize was in 1978 when he picked up France’s prestigious Goncourt prize for his book “Missing Person”. He’s also won the National Literature Grand Prize (1996) and the French Academy’s Grand Prize for his novel “Ring Roads”.
He may not be well known in the Anglo literary world but he certainly is in France, where he is considered one of the country’s most celebrated writers. His crowning moment before winning this year’s Nobel Literature Prize was in 1978 when he picked up France’s prestigious Goncourt prize for his book “Missing Person”. He’s also won the National Literature Grand Prize (1996) and the French Academy’s Grand Prize for his novel “Ring Roads”.
The 69-year-old, born at the end of World War Two has described the Occupation of France as "the soil I grew up in". On awarding him the Nobel Prize the Swedish Academy said it wanted to celebrate his "art of memory" in capturing the lives of ordinary people during German rule, which lasted from 1940 to 1944 in France. Modiano's recreations of wartime Paris are stuffed with meticulous detail - street names, cafes, metro stations and real-life events at that time - earning him the moniker of literary archaeologist. More in the Local
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