French writer Patrick Modiano has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. According to the press release, “for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation.”
Here’s more from The Atlantic: “Many of Modiano’s novels, like his debut La Place de L’Etoile, examine the moral struggles of those living under the Nazi occupation—and the dreamlike experience of navigating time and loss…For those unfamiliar with Modiano’s work, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy Peter Englund recommended Missing Person, a novel about a detective who has lost his memory and traces ‘his own steps through history to find out who he is.'”
Several of Modiano’s books have been translated into English including La Ronde de nuit (English title: Night Rounds), Rue des Boutiques obscures (English title: Missing Person), and Du plus loin de l’oubli (English title: Out of the Dark). Previous winners include Dear Life author Alice Munro, Red Sorghum author Mo Yan, and The Art of Procrastination author John Perry. (Photo Credit: Catherine Hélie)