'Bit by bit the chemical process unfolds'

 

“Somethinghappens between a novel and its reader which is similar to the process ofdeveloping photographs, the way they did it before the digital age.  The photograph, as it was printed in thedarkroom, became visible bit by bit.  Asyou read your way through a novel, the same chemical process takes place.”– Patrick Modiano

 

Born in France on July 30, 1945Modiano was honored for his life’s work with the 2014 Nobel Prize, and hisanalogy of the development of the novel “before our eyes” is an apt descriptionof his style.   He is noted for lettingthe picture slowly unfold, sometimes leaving us startled, sometimes satisfied,sometimes angry, but always interested in what’s coming next.

The winner of almost every major European and French writing award, he washonored for his life’s body of work even prior to winning the Nobel and was –up until that award – one of the few international writers whose work had neverbeen translated into English. But, of course, it has now.

 

Modiano says he writes for a fewhours – “every morning” – and that, for him, “getting started” has sometimesbeen a challenge.  “I quickly realized that it is difficultto get started when writing a novel. You have this dream of what you want tocreate, but it is like walking around a swimming pool and hesitating to jump inbecause the water is too cold.”

 

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