via Pinterest
A few weeks ago I read French novelist Patrick Modiano's 1998 work Suspended Sentences. Modiano won the Nobel Prize in Literature last year, his most prestigious accolade to date after winning the Austrian State Prize in European Literature (2012) and Prix Mondial Cino Del Duca (2010) among others. His works, translated from French into more than 30 languages, tackle existential questions of identity, culture and history.
Suspended Sentences is an all-consuming read— made up of three novellas titled "Suspended Sentences," "Afterimage" and "Flowers of Ruin." Despite the seriousness of the topics of Modiano's writing, his works are unexpectedly refreshing and beautiful. I read each story quickly, and in one sitting, transported into a vivid moment of French culture that completely absorbed me.
My favorite theme in Modiano's writing is memory and how past events and perceptions of these events shape a character's present. With that in mind, it doesn't surprise me that Modiano has been lauded as "the Marcel Proust of our time."
Any suggestions of what I should read next?
xoxo,
Ashley
No comments:
Post a Comment