THE CAFÉ IN PATRICK MODIANO’S NOVELS: A HETEROTOPIA OF MEMORY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18173/2354-1067.2024-0046Keywords:
Patrick Modiano, heterotopia, site of memory, Pierre Nora, Foucault, café, memory,…Abstract
The space or landscape, particularly cafés, is a significant sign in Patrick Modiano’s novels and one of the defining characteristics of his identity in French literary circles as well as in the literary world. Most studies have examined the café space from a psychological perspective or through the lens of Bakhtin's chronotope theory. However, since Modiano’s narrators or protagonists often appear as flaneurs and rememberers, these approaches inadvertently dismiss the inseparable relationship between the three mentioned themes: place-memory-identity. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s theory of heterotopia and Pierre Nora's concept of lieux de mémoire, this article considers the café space in Modiano's novels as a place of memory, or more precisely, a heterotopia of memory. Through this lens, places in general, and the café in particular, is not merely a cocoon of emotion for the characters but rather a museum of memory, a heterotopia for the forgotten. They preserve personal memories and the connections between the subject and the surrounding society and environment. The disappearance of these heterotopias reflects the fragmentation of urban space caused by the acceleration of history and time. Through this, readers recognize fractures in the process of establishing identity as well as in the relationships between people.
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