LES VISAGES DE LA MÉMOIRE DANS LE ROMAN DE PATRICK MODIANO DANS LE CAFÉ DE LA JEUNESSE PERDUE
FORMS OF MEMORY IN PATRICK MODIANOʼS NOVEL IN THE CAFÉ OF LOST YOUTH

Summary/Abstract: The author of the paper analyses various forms of memory in Patric Modiano’s novel In the Café of the Lost Youth (2007). Drawing on Henri Bergson’s idea developed in his Matter and Memory that two forms of memory, one as image-remembrance and another that extends from the past into the present and faces the future exist, we can state that the both forms of memory are presented in this novel. The author of the novel can be recognised behind the four narrators, a student at École des Mines, Caisley, a private detective, a young twenty-two year old woman Jacqueline known as Louki and a would be writer Roland. This novel can be called a novel about a search for lost time only from the perspective of Louki and the author, the other three narrators are engaged in seeking for disappeared Louki. The novel and the story narrated by Louki represent the first form of memory which is based on imagination, meanwhile the other three narrations – the other form of memory which is based on repetition.The student makes an attempt to revive his memory of Jacqueline with a hope to capture the character of the young woman. Caisley’s memory is linked to objects, he recounts various, titles, addresses, persons related to Louki but that does not help reveal Jacqueline’s real life. Jacqueline’s memory is the one she imagines and helps forget everything. Finally, Roland’s memory is the one he imagines and searches for lost time, thus this narrator becomes Patrick Modiano’s alter ego.

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