Les sentiers de la mémoire ou comment découvrir la silhouette de Proust dans l’œuvre de Modiano.

The influence of La Recherche du Temps perdu by Proust can be felt in many current French writers. His style, as well as his various elements, have had many followers who have focused on some aspects of the proustian work. One of those writers is Patrick Modiano. The memories of the Occupation period, which Modiano didn’t witness himself, but he feels he belongs to, hover over his work, sometimes clearly, sometimes in a more subtle way. All this creates an atmosphere that we can consider « proustian » and that reaffirms itself when we see how his most important topics are memory, time and oblivion. This is particularly evident in Livret de Famille, where he at times keeps obvious similarities with, and at times far and clear echoes of Proust.