Abstract EN:

The evocation of Parisian locations in Modiano's work aims not only to structure a concise, economic narrative style, but serves also as a distinctive melting-pot for speculative associations about the past and the evolution of a sense of memory. In addition, the perception of the capital weaves a complex web, sometimes problematic, between the Romanesque forms of urban space (decoration, trace, circulatory systems, architectural object, urban subject) and the primary narrative project: memory. A focal point of mental as of pedestrian wanderings, the Paris of Modiano's work deploys a symbolism and poeticisation of the memorable. Through its depiction as at times evanescent and lugubrious, sometimes picturesque and exotic, the capital gives rise to a fantasy-infused chronicle of a fragmentary memory. Paris, in Modianos' world, is ultimately intimately connected to the problem of identity, as expressed throughout the novels in terms of the aspect of Jewish being. This is not solely symbolic but also reflects a historic reality and attempts to express the experience of the unsayable. . .