French writer, Patrick Modiano, has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the world’s highest literary honour, on Thursday, and for that he is $1.2 million richer. Modiano is 11th Literature Laureate born in France. He was adjudged the winner out of a crowd of 210 nominations this year.
The Swedish committee praised the 69-year-old French writer for “the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation.”
Peter Englund, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, recommended that readers unfamiliar with Modiano’s work begin with “Missing Person” (“Rue des boutiques obscures”), a novel from 1978 that describes a man who lost his identity during the Paris Occupation.
“I don’t think he’s difficult to read,” Englund said. “You can read him easily, one of his books in the afternoon, have dinner, and read another in the evening.”
Modiano has previously won the Grand prix du roman de l’Académie française and the Prix Goncourt.
Although he has published more than 20 books, and children’s books, few of them are available in translation in the United States. “Missing Person” was published here by a small indie press owned by David Godine. This is the second Nobel Prize winner that Godine has published.
The $1.2 million prize is given in recognition of an author’s lifetime of work. The award will be formally conferred at a ceremony in Stockholm in December.
The Swedish Academy received 210 nominations for this year’s Literature prize — 36 were first-time nominees. The committee’s deliberations are confidential and kept sealed for 50 years.
Last year’s Nobel literature award went to Canadian writer Alice Munro. No American has won the literature prize since Toni Morrison in 1993.
On Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced.
