Patrick Modiano: ‘I became a prisoner of my memories of Paris’

The Nobel prizewinning writer on his new novel, the phantoms of his past and the destruction of the old quartiers

In his brief, enigmatic account of his first 21 years, Pedigree, Patrick Modiano describes how, in 1959, at the age of 14, when his mother was performing in a play at the Théâtre Fontaine, he began exploring the Pigalle district of Paris. “It was there, on Rue Fontaine, Place Blanche, Rue Frochot, that I first brushed against the mysteries of Paris and, without quite realising it, began dreaming of a life for myself.” Aged 17, he wrote that he was only really happy when he was walking on his own in its streets. Since then, the detailed locations, street names and precise urban geography of the capital have been a feature of virtually everything he has written.

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