Patrick Modiano / Akane Kawakami.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kawakami, Akane, author.

Series:

Modern French writers ; 5.

Modern French writers ; 5

Standardized Title:

Self-conscious art

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Modiano, Patrick, 1945---Criticism and interpretation.

Modiano, Patrick.

Modiano, Patrick, 1945-.

French fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

French fiction.

Postmodernism (Literature).

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

221 pages ; 24 cm.

Edition:

Revised and expanded version.

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, 2015.

Summary:

Conceived as a second edition to Kawakami's acclaimed A Self-Conscious Art, which was the first full-length study in English to deal with the formal aspects of Patrick Modiano's work, this book has been comprehensively updated with two new chapters, notably discussing Modiano's work, this book has been comprehensively updated with two new chapters, notably discussing Modiano's recent novels and his Nobel Prize win. Kawakami teases out the complexities of the author's apparently simple narratives, showing how they skillfully weave together the fictional ad historical to involve and draw the readers into the worlds of his novels, whether it be the murky labyrinth of the années noires or the amoral yet attractive landscape of the sixties. Kawakami also discusses new aspects of Modiano's pot-2000 novels, such as the greater role played in them by women, the unexpected appearance of ideas from Nietzsche, and a conception of time that owes much to - but is also profoundly different from - his great precursor, Proust. This welcome update on the work of one of the most successful novelists writing in French today will be essential reading for scholars of contemporary French writing as well as for the general reader of French and Francophone literature. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Degree Zero Voices: The Empty Narrator 7

2 Disorderly Narratives: The Order of Narration 25

3 Unreal Stories: The 'effet d'irréel' 49

4 Being Serious: Modiano's Use of History 69

5 Being Playful: Parody and Disappointment 91

6 Being Popular: The Modiano Novel 111

7 Being a Woman: Mothers and Lovers 137

8 Being Eternal: The Endless Recurrence of Time and Writing 155.

Notes:

Previous edition: published as A self-conscious art. 2000.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781781382745

1781382743

OCLC:

939420180