Patrick Modiano : laying bare the horrors of France

 

Buried beneath the labyrinth of rues winding through Paris in French author Patrick Modiano's three novellas, hidden under his obscure, at times frustratingly dense prose, is the conviction that every facet of France's history, however difficult and ugly, must be told.

 

It is often said that writers are the conscience of a nation, and Modiano, 70, was honoured with the Nobel Prize for Literature last year, for a lifetime of work exploring both personal and collective loss, memory and identity in his home country.

 

The win lifted Modiano from relative obscurity in the Anglophone world, and translation of his works is under way - The Occupation Trilogy combines a fresh translation of his 1967 literary debut, La Place d'Etoile, with two short stories, The Night Watch (1969) and Ring Roads (1972).

 

Each story, in its own way, uncovers the horrors of the pro- Nazi Vichy regime in France from 1940 to 1942. La Place d'Etoile refers both to the area near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, as well as the Star of David that Jews were forced to wear during the Occupation.

 

It is a picaresque story about the life of Raphael Schlemilovitch, a depraved and self-loathing Jew who cavorts with those on the lowest rungs of society, which includes Adolf Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun.

 

"Yes, through my millions and my orgies, I personally preside over the International Jewish Conspiracy. Yes the Second World War was directly triggered by me," he declares at one point.

 

The absurdist narrative hurtles through his life from the city to the countryside, as he assaults his classmates at a lycee in Bordeaux and eventually becomes seduced by a Jewish aristocrat into white sex slave trading.

 

There are autobiographical shades to the story... Read more.

 

Source : http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/laying-bare-the-horrors-of-france