Nobel Prize in Literature 2014

[Cleanthess]

Many of my favorite recent French writers (Chevillard, Volodine, Celine Minard, etc.) have an interesting approach / schtick / gimmick for writing their books. They jump genres between books while keeping their particular Marks of Identity.

Based on the little I've read of Modiano, he seems to also follow this practice, but in a diluted fashion. So, Missing Person has a Raymond Chandler a la Modiano feel: "I am nothing. Nothing but a pale shape, silhouetted that evening against the cafe terrace"; my favorite of his books, Accident Nocturne is Borges' Aleph retold and expanded a la Modiano. Modiano's first novel is the one where he was trying to get his first break, so it's the one in which he made the biggest effort at entertaining the reader, so you get hookers, Eva Braun, and some amusing moments. Hopefully his Accident Nocturne will be translated soon now that he has won the Nobel.

 

[Daniel del Real]

Many of my favorite recent French writers (Chevillard, Volodine, Celine Minard, etc.) have an interesting approach / schtick / gimmick for writing their books. They jump genres between books while keeping their particular Marks of Identity.

Based on the little I've read of Modiano, he seems to also follow this practice, but in a diluted fashion. So, Missing Person has a Raymond Chandler a la Modiano feel: "I am nothing. Nothing but a pale shape, silhouetted that evening against the cafe terrace"; my favorite of his books, Accident Nocturne is Borges' Aleph retold and expanded a la Modiano. Modiano's first novel is the one where he was trying to get his first break, so it's the one in which he made the biggest effort at entertaining the reader, so you get hookers, Eva Braun, and some amusing moments. Hopefully his Accident Nocturne will be translated soon now that he has won the Nobel.

Apparently Accident Nocturne isn't available in Spanish translation either. Hope Mr. Herralde can do something about it soon.

 

[nrtil]

I think we need avant-garde authors to get the prize - and these are bound to be less well known than the usual candidates. I don't think Modiano belongs to those but he is at least a fresh name in the midst of the merry-go-round of some authors and their promoters craving for another prize.

 

[Hamlet]

[video=youtube;e1Z_swxv5fg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1Z_swxv5fg[/video]

I was looking over Patrick Modiano on YT after reading through this thread, you know, it's amazing how much you can find on YT, but there seems to be a trend just at the moment for uploading full audio books. I don't know how this has come about owing to the copyright position, but what the heck, it's there anyway... and ot's often worth a skim of favourite authors to see just what is out there.

 

[redhead]

Many have said you need to read multiple Modiano books to get a feel for him and see his greatness; at 4 novellas (including one that's ranked among his masterpieces) I think I've read enough to form a solid opinion on him that won't change with more readings. Here're my thoughts on his Nobel:

He did deserve the prize, but his body of work is not up there with Faulkner or Yeats', or, more recently, that of Grass, Coetzee, Müller, and Vargas Llosa. I am glad his presence was made known to me and I got to read him, but he doesn't really do it for me. He'll probably be long admired in France, probably a lot more so than his predecessor, Le Clezio, but outside the country he'll probably become unknown again not too long from now.

I don't think he would've won, though, had Sebald lived long enough to get it. I feel in some ways Modiano is a poor man's Sebald, approaching the same themes but in a more clumsy manner.

He's probably one of the weaker post-2000 Nobel winners, but that being said, unlike many others I have been liking the recent picks a lot--Mo Yan is one of my favorites, Müller is fantastic, as is Pamuk and Naipual and what I've read of Le Clezio--so that might be more a mark on how much I like other recent winners than on Modiano himself.

For anyone on the fence, he's worth checking out, and unlike what some have said, his prize was warranted, but don't expect to be blown away.

Edit: Now that I've had a few days to mull it over, I think I was a little too harsh on poor ole Pat. Dora Bruder was a bit of a disappointment, and not just because I had high expectations going in--I still think his writing in here isn't super great, esp. compared to the other books of his I've read, and it's importance comes more from the subject matter than Modiano's execution--but in retrospect, when placed with Modiano's over works, the cumulative effect starts to happen and it does become something great. He's not my favorite writer to read, but to just think about his works after reading is very worthwhile.

I still stand by that he probably would not've gotten the award had Sebald lived, but now that I've learned how to read him (you can't just read multiple books by him, you have to ruminate other them and think about their place in his body of work, like Dora Bruder, which on its own is a somewhat unfocused bit of dry reportage about a girl who disappeared, but when you've read his other books becomes a moving portrait of Paris during those years Modiano is always trying to evoke), I'll be sure to pick up his works whenever I get the chance. His books are like chapters of one giant book, but imagine reading a giant book piecemeal and out of order: you'd have to connect the bits on your own, and only in this way would you find the book rewarding.

 

[TonyWallace]

Another year, another nobody...

yeeeeeeah+1