"Dark Shop Street", its author is the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature winner, French writer Patrick Modiano.
In April 1997, the biggest news in the domestic literary world was the untimely death of the high-profile writer Wang Xiaobo. Two months later, Wang Xiaobo's last novel, The Bronze Age, was published, in which the beginning of "Wanshou Temple" reads: "Modiano wrote in "Dark Shop Street:'My past is hazy..."The book is on the windowsill, it is a pamphlet, black and yellow cover, the paper is very rough, and the reddish sunlight of the morning is shining on it." ”
At that time, Wang Xiaobo was already famous all over the world, and his influence on future generations still exists. He quotes modiano's novel at the beginning of the novel, which is of course a tribute to the previous masters. As early as the article titled "The Art of the Novel", this admiration was expressed more directly, he said: "The highest achievements of modern novels are: Calvino, Yousenal, Günte Grass, Modiano..." And Modiano's name, also borrowed by Wang Xiaobo' strength, is familiar to domestic readers.
In fact, in France, Modiano became famous as early as 1968 after his debut film "Place de la Star". In 1972 he won the "Grand Prix des études Novels" for the "Grande Boulevard de France". In 1978, he won the Goncourt Prize, the most important literary award in France, with "Rue du Bleu". In 1996 he was awarded the French National Prize for Literature. In 2010 and 2012 he was awarded the "World Prize of the Fondation Chino del Duca" of the Académie française and the "Prize for European Literature" in Austria, respectively. Of course, the most recent award was the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Modiano was born in 1945 in the Boulogne-Billancourt region, just outside Paris, the son of a Jewish financial entrepreneur and a Belgian actor. From 1968 to the present, he has published nearly thirty novels and has been translated into more than thirty countries. In China, there are also nearly twenty translations.
The famous Belgian French writer Jean-Philippe Tucson, when commenting on the difference between Modiano and another Nobel Laureate, the French writer Le Clézio, said: Le Clézio's novels are still a very traditional and mainstream way of writing, but Modiano is completely different, his novel language is concise and subtle, containing a deep poetry, especially in the openness of the novel structure and the creation of atmosphere, which has always had a very charming charm. Next, we will take "Dark Shop Street" as an example to specifically interpret how this charm is formed.
The protagonist of the novel is a man with amnesia, set in Post-World War II Paris, and the protagonist is taken in by the kind private old detective Yute and helps him in the office. He can't remember who he was, where he came from, who he was, what he had experienced, as he wrote at the beginning of the novel: "I am nothing." Detective Yut tried to solve the problem of the man's name and passport, naming him Guy Laurent.
At the beginning of the novel, mr. Turin decides to retire from the detective business. Ten years ago, when he and the protagonist first met, Guy Laurent originally wanted to ask Yut to help find witnesses and evidence that would remind him of the past, but Yut told him, you still don't look back, think about today and the future. Immediately, I pulled him into the gang and worked as a private investigator together. The main reason why this is that Jutt sympathizes with Guy Laurent is that, like the protagonist, Hett himself has lost a piece of the past, and it is written that "a part of Hutter's life is suddenly like a stone sinking into the sea, leaving no lead to the path, any link that connects him to the past." ”
In the novel "Dark Shop Street", in addition to Detective Yute, there are several characters, who are actually from the families of Russian expatriates living in exile in France. This is also an important background thread in the novel. The main reason why Yute said that part of his own life had also disappeared was the fact that the home country no longer existed because of the exile. Later, Yut retired and lived in seclusion, leaving the office to Guy Laurent, because it contained information about various people and so on accumulated over the years, which could be consulted by Guy Laurent, hoping to help him trace his past.
Later, from the clueless clues that were not clues, Guy Laurent first found a batch of old photographs after several twists and turns, identifying three main people related to him, one was a Russian woman named Guy Orlov, one was his friend and the woman's husband Freddie, and the other was his wife Denis. Before long, through the search for information related to these people, while knowing some of their background, he also knew his identity, his original name was Pedro McEvoy, who had assisted the Consul General of the Dominican Consulate in Paris, who was also his friend. As clues and information continued to increase, so did his memory. In fact, his amnesia is not forgotten everything, but mainly the information of people, events and corresponding relationships. There are some important scenes that he can gradually recall, but they are a bit like pure vision, in a state of unconfirmed nature without antecedents and consequences.
When he combined the information he had searched for with the memories of the scenes that remained in his mind, he basically outlined the outline and context of the most important part of his life experience. After the Germans occupied France in World War II, he, along with Denise, Guy Orlov, Freddie, and another friend, plotted a route to escape France via Portugal to Switzerland. As they reached the French border and hid in the mountains, waiting for an opportunity to cross the border, two strangers offered to help them achieve their wishes, but for fifty thousand francs each. The protagonist, who is anxious to cross the border and escape from danger, does not think that this is a hoax, and the result is that he is abandoned in the deep mountains and snowy mountains and almost dies, and he himself loses his memory, and his beautiful wife Denis and all his belongings are abducted by the two people. Later, he found the traces left by Denis in Paris, but he did not know where he was, and the evil deeds of oleg who killed innocents after defecting to the Germans. With the last glimmer of hope, he crosses the ocean to the Pacific Island to find his old friend Freddie, hoping to find the most important clue to recover his past memories, Freddie has an accident. This is where the novel comes to an abrupt end.
Next, let's talk about what makes this novel special.
The first feature is that this novel has a shell that looks like a detective novel.
For almost two-thirds of the length, the protagonist is constantly searching for clues like a detective, meeting with various people who may be related or informed, getting first-hand information such as photos and the like, and some second-hand information, that is, information related to several other characters that these people sued. In this process, Yute and other colleagues also provided him with various more important character information from time to time. This information is gradually emerging, and the most direct effect they produce is that the reader will unconsciously fall into the thinking of reading detective novels, especially when mentioning the protagonist's wife Denis, several times mentioning that she likes to read the details of detective novels, which further strengthens the structure of the novel, that is, the feeling of detective fiction.
In the final part of the novel, when the reader feels that the process of searching that has occurred before, the various materials that have gradually surfaced, and some memory scenes that have gradually recovered, are gradually stitched together like fragments of various shapes in a jigsaw puzzle game, and are about to present a complete picture of the event, they suddenly find that with the interruption of Freddie's clue, all the previous ones that seem to have been pieced together have disintegrated in the blink of an eye. The case returned to its original confusing state, the seemingly detective process was completely ineffective, not only did the most important results and answers not appear, but even all the search and information that had been done before became suspicious. In fact, the real reason why all the protagonist's attempts to recover his memory have become futile is not amnesia itself, but the collapse and disintegration of the environment and interpersonal relationships on which he depended for his survival caused by the German occupation of France during World War II, and this consequence means that the world that carries the memory is irreparable, that is, he has lost not only the memory itself, but also the world that belongs to him. As the protagonist concludes with a letter to Yut:
"Until now, I think everything is so chaotic, so broken and incomplete... In the process of searching, I will suddenly remember some details of an event, certain fragments... In short, maybe life is exactly like that... Is this really my own life? Or did I sneak into another person's life? ”
The second feature, the deep structure of the novel, is actually a labyrinth of "pure anti-detective novels".
This claim comes from the critic Jenny Yurt. In her view, when the trained reader gradually recognizes the structural features of the detective novel as the novel unfolds, she imagines with anticipation the inferable answers to all the questions she will see, and she points out with great clarity: However, the novel has thwarted the reader's desire to seek answers, or rather to the desire they believe that the answers will be determined in the process of reading, and in this way, the postmodern uncertainty of the novel replaces the traditional endgame: "The refusal of the anti-detective novel to provide the end, And it begs for fear rather than steadfastness, and participates in the postmodern resistance to inductive reasoning and the belief in a linear teleological universe that soothes the human heart. ”
At this time, if we can patiently return to the novel, to go through all the clues that appear in all the chapters, the memories that emerge, and the evidence provided by the witnesses, we will suddenly realize that all of them are actually full of uncertainty and are very suspicious, they have never really been connected to generate the so-called clue logic, they are always in the state of the initial line, fundamentally, unsolvable. Of course, because of this, they also provide the reader with almost endless possibilities of imagination, so that the deepest feeling we leave after reading this novel is that, on the whole, it is like a labyrinth. As L. Murphy put it: "At any time, as soon as the symbol of the labyrinth is evoked, whether explicitly or implicitly, this tension is revealed." Although not always labeled a labyrinth, the image of the labyrinth is repeatedly hinted at through the text's depiction of the following things: streets, buildings, locked doors, porches, foyers, and apartments in Paris, and later the wooded paths, pathways, and winding roads of the French countryside, in which the narrator wanders and wanders.
For example, there is a passage in the novel about the protagonist entering the "labyrinthy forest" planted by Freddy's grandfather when he mistakenly thinks that he may be Freddie, and this text reads: "We enter the labyrinth from a side entrance, leaning over an arch made of green branches and green leaves." Trails criss-cross each other, with intersections, circular clearings, circular bends or ninety-degree corners, cul-de-sacs, a green canopy and a green bench... When I was a child, I must have played hide-and-seek here with my grandfather or friends of the same age, and I must have had the best time of my life in this magical labyrinth that exudes the fragrance of Privet and pine trees. As we walked out of the labyrinth, I couldn't help but say to my guide, 'It's weird... This labyrinth reminds me of something...'"
In Modiano's writing, the imagery of this labyrinth appears in different ways from time to time in different places, such as the following text: "It's dark." The windows open to another large courtyard surrounded by buildings. In the distance is the Seine, on the left is the Pito Bridge, and the island that extends forward. The flow of vehicles on the bridge is endless. I looked at the front of the building, the brightly illuminated windows that were exactly the same as the windows I was standing behind. In this labyrinth of stairs and elevators, in the middle of these hundreds of honeycombs, I found a man, perhaps he..."
The protagonist actually appears many times in an apartment that makes people feel claustrophobic and panicky, looking out through the window at Paris. The effect of this description is that not only the various spaces hint at the labyrinth, but even the whole of Paris is a symbol of the labyrinth. As the following text presents: "I went all the way to the window and looked down on the Montmartre Funicular, the Garden of the Sacred Heart, and beyond the whole of Paris, its lights, its roofs, its shadows. In this labyrinth of streets, one day, I met Denise Kudlers. Of the thousands of routes traversing Paris, two intersect each other, just as on a giant electric billiard table, two of the thousands of small balls sometimes collide with each other. But there was nothing left, not even a flash of light that had passed by the yellow fireflies. ”
He was always trying to reminisce, trying to recall more of those times during the occupation of Paris, and to be able to turn everything involved into the "Ariadne Line" that would allow him to get out of the labyrinth. The Ariadne line mentioned here refers to the story of Princess Ariadne on the island of Crete in ancient Greek mythology, in order to help the Athenian prince Theseus defeat the monsters in the labyrinth and escape, she gave Theseus a thread and a magic knife, guiding him to kill the monster with the knife and release the thread with him, so that he could follow the road out of the maze. Therefore, the Ariadne line is often used as a metaphor for the method and path out of the maze, the clue to solve complex problems.
However, the ending of this Greek myth is actually a tragedy, the relationship between Princess Ariadne and Theseus is not favored by the goddess of fate, after which Ariadne falls in love with Dionysus, however, Ariadne is only a mortal. Finally one day, she left Dionysus forever. Dionysus held the crown that Ariadne had once worn, and was devastated. This means that when the protagonist of the novel thinks of finding the "Ariadne Line" that will help him get out of the labyrinth, it is actually quite possible to realize that related to the "labyrinth" is love that is not blessed by the gods, and the tragic nature of mortal life with limited limits - even if he has the Ariadne line, he cannot escape fate.
The third feature of the novel is the fragmented world, the correspondence between memory and the beauty of a concise and poetic style
In Dark Shop Street, Modiano's writing is very concise. He rarely uses long sentences, and most of the time uses concise short sentences. Moreover, in the whole novel, most paragraphs are only a few lines, at most seven or eight lines, usually three or two lines are a paragraph. Sometimes a dozen lines is a chapter, sometimes a chapter has only two lines, or even a chapter has only one line. However, what is intriguing is that although Modiano is concise and uses more short sentences and short paragraphs, he will not have the slightest feeling of lightness and rapidness in reading, on the contrary, from beginning to end, some are slow effects. Why is there such an effect? Because whether it is concise or short, it is only a superficial form. In fact, whether it is description, dialogue, or associative thoughts, it is very layered in terms of sentence structure, and in addition, it is also rich in blank effect from the structure of paragraphs. At the end of the day, Modiano's purpose is not to tell a good story, but to create a deep and subtle atmosphere to generate a purely open narrative space full of imaginary possibilities.
For example, let's read a passage of text, and you will understand that it has only nine lines in the book:
"It's Denise's birthday. One winter night, the snow in Paris turned muddy. People flock to subway entrances or scurry around. The windows of the Gate of Saint-Honoré are brightly lit. Christmas is approaching.
I walked into a jewelry store and the jeweler's face reappeared in front of me. He has a beard and glasses with slightly colored lenses. I bought Denise a ring. When leaving the store, the snow was still falling. I was worried that Denise would not come to the appointment, and for the first time it occurred to me that in this city, among the shadows of these people in a hurry, the two of us might never see each other again.
I don't remember if my name was Jimmy or Pedro, Stern or McEvoy that night. ”
As we read this passage, we find that the tone as a whole is both concise and very slow. Whether it is scene description or narrative or psychological activity, it is almost always flashback, but there is always a subtle poetry between the lines. We can even say that if we divide it a little more, then this text will actually become a really good poem. Its beauty, which seems to be both self-evident and indescribable, is worth playing with over and over again. And no matter how you play, you won't exhaust its implications.
Modiano's writing always gives people a sense of silence, often with just a few strokes, to achieve the effect of inadvertently deeply touching people's hearts. For example, the following text:
"That night, I sat at a table at the bar-grocery store where Ute had taken me, located on the Nyers Boulevard, directly opposite the office. A bar with some exotic goods on the shelves: tea leaves, Sweet Arabic pastries, rose sauce, Baltic herring. Frequenting the area are some of the former horse jockeys who reminisce together and pass on photos of the horns, which show horses that have long been dismembered. ”
The preceding words seem to be careless and bland, until the last sentence, "The horse in the photo has long been dismembered", appears and stops abruptly, and the reader suddenly realizes what a cruel truth is implied! It is not only the horses of photographs that are dismembered, but also the memories of people, the history of people, the relationships of people, and even the whole world associated with them that have been "dismembered."
Finally, we can also read another passage of the text in the novel as the end of this interpretation of "Dark Shop Street". The text goes like this:
"Quirky people. All that was left was a cloud of water vapor that dissipated quickly. Utter and I often talk about these people who have lost their tracks. One day they suddenly emerged from nothingness, flashed a few rays of light, and then returned to nothingness. Beauty Queen. Little white face. Flower butterflies. Most of them, even before they were alive, were no more textured than steam that would never condense. Yut gave me the example of a man who called a beach man: forty years of his life on the beach or by the pool, chatting cordially with summerers and wealthy idlers. In a corner or background of thousands of vacation photos, he appears in the middle of a cheerful crowd in a swimsuit, but no one can call his name or why he's there. Nor did anyone notice that one day he disappeared from the photo. I don't dare say anything to Te, but I believe this beach man is me. Even if I confessed it to him, he wouldn't be surprised. Yut repeatedly said that in fact, we are all beach people, and I quote him as saying: 'The sand only keeps our footprints for a few seconds.' ’”
In this passage, Modiano proposes the concept of the "beach people". Whether it is the protagonist of the novel, or Mr. Hutter and the Russians and Latin Americans who are in exile in Paris, the "beach people" are actually an accurate summary of the rootless life situation and the vague state of existence. But isn't it easy to happen even in our society today? Especially in the central big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, even if we only limit it to three or five years, we will find that there have actually been many "beach people", who suddenly appear one day and then suddenly disappear. Yut was right, "Actually, we are all beach people. And this, in a sense, is also the most basic fate of modern people, especially contemporary people—the fate of constantly experiencing loss and the increasingly vague existence of individuals, and the so-called concepts of amnesia, leaving home, rootlessness, and wandering are only manifestations of this fate.