Memory and Ageing in Modiano’s latest novels

Abstract

This paper is based on the analysis of the four most recent novels by Patrick Modiano: Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue (2007), L’horizon (2010), L’herbe des nuits (2012) and Pour que tu ne te perdes pas dans le quartier (2014). In the four works in question, the novelist carries out a complex exploration of memory, which will allow us to reflect on important issues, such as the construction of a plot composed of reminiscences, the cycle of memory and oblivion, the dialectic between youth and old age, or the fundamental role played by the novelist’s life experience