PARIS — French novelist Patrick Modiano has devoted his career to exploring the traumas of the Nazi occupation of his country, including how it could strip people of their identities.
On Thursday, the 69-year-old Parisian’s steadfast efforts over 45 years earned him the 2014 Nobel Prize in literature.
In a sign of how effective his works have been, his 1968 “La Place de l’Etoile” was later hailed in Germany as a key post-Holocaust work.
Modiano was out for a walk on Paris’ Left Bank when he heard of his prize.
“I was walking near the Luxembourg Gardens when my daughter called with the news,” Modiano said at a news conference at the offices of his French publisher Gallimard. “It came as a complete surprise, I just kept walking. It felt like it was happening to my double.”
He was at a loss when asked how he would celebrate his win.
“Nothing special. I really didn’t expect this,” he said, adding that he would dedicate the prize to his grandson, who is Swedish.
Academics said his appeal largely lies in the poetic nature of his texts, which doesn’t come across as well in translations, making him less well-known in the English-speaking world.
The Swedish Academy said it gave him the $1.1 million prize for evoking “the most ungraspable human destinies” and uncovering the humanity of life under Nazi occupation.
“All his books are in a sort of correspondence with each other that I think is pretty unique,” said permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Peter Englund.
Modiano has published more than 40 works in French. The handful of his book that are available in English translation were not released by mainstream New York publishers, but by independent and academic presses.
They include “Ring of Roads: A Novel,” “Villa Triste,” “A Trace of Malice,” “Honeymoon” and “Missing Person,” which won the Prix Goncourt in 1978.
Yale University Press quickly announced that it is moving up publication of “Suspended Sentences,” a collection of three novellas, from February to November, while publisher Godine said has ordered reprints for three Modiano books.
This year’s Nobel Prize announcements started Monday. The announcements continue with the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday and the economics award on Monday.
