Hello
Gentle Reader
Patrick
Modiano is a psychogeographic writer. Past and present often meld themselves on
the streets, now long since changed, demolished, and or renovated. Modiano’s
work often traces his narrators as they walk the streets of Paris. The streets
that were, no longer are the streets that are. Though the same old streets have
become something new; and the notes of long past that trace a map stating: “So
You Don’t Get Lost In The Neighbourhood,” become obsolete, as we quickly become
lost in once was familiar. Even in the small city in which I reside, when I
leave my own circular daily walking routines and venture further out, the city
becomes monstrous, mysterious, bewildering, and strange. The more I engage with
it, the more I see the city change through time. I know what winter brings
everything closer; how spring softens it; how summer rejuvenates it, how autumn
brightens it. For Patrick Modiano this is all true. The seasons change the
lighting of each city street, back to the past. A past that is not coloured;
but covered in sepia tones and shadows of once was. All of this is the hypnotic
charm of Patrick Modiano.
Modiano
is a rarity in French Literature. He explores the French Occupation, and the
river of oblivion sloshing through the sewers of Paris, wiping away the
remnants of that dark period of French history; and it’s unfortunate war time
errors. Yet that has all been forgotten. It has been recorded, filed, and left
where many believe it should be: in the past. Why discuss the grievous and
grief stricken errors of the past, our forefathers? Those were desperate days
in desolate times. Now they are now dearly departed. It’s best to leave
sleeping dogs where they lay. Yet for Modiano, the discussion of this era is
not a discussion of the guilty past; nor is it a requirement of moving forward
and forgiveness. Rather the discussion of the French Occupation itself is a
personal one. In his Nobel Lecture Modiano states:
“Like
everyone else born in 1945, I was a child of the war and more precisely,
because I was born in Paris, a child who owed his birth to the Paris of the
occupation. Those who lived in that Paris wanted to forget it very quickly or
at least only remember the day-to-day details, the ones which presented the
illusion that everyday life was after all not so very different from the life
they led in normal times. It was all a bad dream, with vague remorse for having
been in some sense survivors. Later on, when their children asked them
questions about that period and that Paris, their answers were evasive. Or else
they remained silent as if they wanted to rub out those dark years from their
memory and keep something hidden from us. But faced with the silence of our
parents we worked it all out as if we had lived it ourselves.”
“It’s
full of ghosts here,” is what Annie Astrand states to our narrator Jean
Daragane, in his novel “So You Don’t Get Lost In The Neighbourhood.” She states
this in a deserted mansion by the Bois de Boulogne; and immediately one can
think of the entire career and bibliography of Modiano himself. Each novel
becomes a new room in an ever expanding, and depleted mansion: from the Honeymoon suite, down the nursery;
all the way into the garden, where gatherings were once held. Ghosts surely do
move through the halls of Modian’s literary mansion. Ghosts that were once seen
a few books ago, quickly come back, and make their subtle appearances.
Recognizing a particular character or name, one is quickly hunts through the
books to find prior novels and volumes already read, to sift through the
chapters, the words; the streets, and the names to find the prior appearance of
this particular character once again.
“So
You Don’t Get Lost In The Neighbourhood,” depicts Jean Daragane, a writer
removed and unplugged from the world, who is disturbed by a couple, who express
interest in a name in his address book, which he had lost, and they wished to
return. This couple immediately reminded me of the young Jacqueline and Gerard
from: “Out of the Dark,” because they survive off of gambling. Yet Gilles
Ottolini is far more sinister that Gerard; and Chantal Grippay (Josephine) is
far less cold and distant then Jacqueline. Yet their lives seemed to
intertwine, if only by lifestyle and career choice. But other than that, the
two couples are separated. Yet the interest in the name Torstel sends Jean
Daragane back to his childhood – a place of murky inconsistencies, that has
been enveloped by the present and tossed into the future, and what remained has
been covered up, renovated, and discarded into the past, living on in
photographs and memories of those, who lived in those times. Of course “So You
Don’t Get Lost In The Neighbourhood,” had me running not just back to “Out of
The Dark,” but to “Suspended Sentences,” with the mention of Annie, and a
certain Roger Vincent and his American convertible. But while sifting through
“Suspended Sentences,” there was of course another peculiar mention of a
certain Jean. D as well – and I could only wonder if this was Jean Daragane
himself? Of course with Patrick Modiano, you never get any real concise answers
to your own questions.
Yet
I did my best to theorize. The Jean D. from “Suspended Sentences,” seemed older
or at least older the then then Jean Dargane, who appears in Annie’s care in “So
You Don’t Get Lost In The Neighbourhood.” Then of course there was Annie – she
herself appeared younger in “Suspended Sentences,” and in now making an
appearance in “So You Don’t Get Lost In The Neighbourhood,” she has aged
dramatically. The only individual, who remains consistent with himself, is
Roger Vincent; who is only mentioned in “So You Don’t Get Lost In The
Neighbourhood,” but the appearance of his trademark American Convertible. Then
of course there is the fact that an ‘acrobat,’ nightclub is also mentioned –
something Annie participated in, before “Suspended Sentences.” Yet one can only
wonder about the ambiguous questions raised in these slight connections by
Modiano in his novel “So You Don’t Get Lost In The Neighbourhood,” and wonder
if the Jean D and Jean Dargane are both one in the same and are connected to
the Rue Lauriston gang; in which case of course, is this what Gilles Ottolini
wishes to know?
Modiano
is not a writer of answers though. He is not a writer of mysteries. Mysteries
are developed as puzzles: they must have a logical and conclusive answer at the
end. Rather Modiano is a writer who takes the guise of a mystery writer, to
explore the misty memories of the past, with all the black, white, and varying
shades of grey. He is an atmospheric writer; and this strongly plays to his
talents, the ability to build up tension and alienation through the stifling
uncertain atmosphere; which is all thwarted in the end, by the lack of anything
else acted upon this atmosphere.
Jean
D. in “So You Don’t Get Lost In The Neighbourhood,” is a rather weary
character. He quickly loses interest or falls into apathy in regards to
situations that surround him:
“In
the end, he decided to take advantage of the silence of the night to reread all
the pages of the ‘dossier’ for one last time. But no sooner had he started his
reading than he experienced an unpleasant sensation: the sentences became
muddled and other sentences suddenly appeared that overlaid previous ones and
disappeared without giving him time to decipher them.
[
. . . ]
“He
put this down to weariness, and he closed his eyes.”
Often
this was the case with “So You Don’t Get Lost In The Neighbourhood.” As a
reader of the novel myself, I found myself overcome with weariness and
exhausted by Jean Dargane’s communicable sense of weariness and existential
apathy. Of all of Modiano’s novels that I have read yet, this one in particular
struck me as being lack luster, and not up to par with his other novels from
the past. Or perhaps its reading too much of one writer in one go. Nonetheless
Modiano has so far been the most successful Nobel Laureate to be translated
into the English language since he has won the award. I am still waiting for
many more Le Clezio novels and short stories to reach me in English, and Herta
Müller only comes around once in a while; like a distant relative who finally
has the chance to come and visit now and then, but always leaves prematurely. Modiano
has become a great success, and it is relieving to see his novels become more
widely translated, for a new chapter in his great tapestry of his book to be
penciled in.
Thank-you
For Reading Gentle Reader
Take
Care
And
As Always
Stay
Well Read
M.
Mary
