Nobel Laureate in Literature Modiano in eyes of Chinese people

French writer Patrick Modiano is seen in this undated publicity handout picture courtesy of French publishing house Gallimard released to Reuters on October 9, 2014. Modiano has won the 2014 Nobel Prize for Literature for works that made him "a Marcel Proust of our time," the Swedish Academy said on Thursday. [Photo/Agencies]

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to French author Patrick Modiano for "the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies", the Swedish Academy announced on Thursday in Stockholm.

Modiano's works have centered on memory, oblivion, identity and guilt that often took place during the German occupation of World War Two.

Modiano was born on July 30, 1945, in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburb of Paris.

At the age of just 23, he made his debut as a writer with the novel La place de l'etoile, a book that attracted a great deal of recognition and soon made him a household name in France.

Modiano has written novels, documentaries, autobiography, film scripts, and even children's books.

Although relatively unknown outside of France, Modiano was introduced to China as early as the 1980s and some of his works have been translated into Chinese, such as Rue des boutiques obscures, Villa Triste and Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue.

According to a report from Beijing Youth Daily, "We have copyrights of Modiano's eight books, and we are planning to publish a series of his works", said Pen Lun, a senior editor of the Shanghai-based publishing house, Jiujiu Reader.

Wu Hong, deputy editor-in-chief of Shanghai Translation Publishing House, said that Modiano enjoys a great reputation in the French literature world.

"But his works were not among the hot publications, and we are now negotiating copyright with him," Wu said.

"Modiano is highly recognized in the literature circle," Ba Ye, a Chinese literary critic, told Chinanews.com, "He is probably at the same level with Milan Kundera. His works mainly talk about the Second World War and have a good combination of vanguard and historical sense, the two aspects of thought and art. In this way, Modiano is unique."

"Modiano is one of the best contemporary writers in France and one main feature of his works is memory. It represents a process for a generation of people to seek one self. His works also have a unique fable style", said Yu Zhongxian, professor in French literature at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in an interview with culture.ifeng.com.

The late famous Chinese writer Wang Xiaobo also admired Modiano much, considering him as one of the greatest contemporary novelists in the world.

In his article The Art of Fiction, Wang wrote that "The contemporary novelists who have made the greatest achievements are Italo Calvino, Marguerite Yourcenar, Gunter Wilhelm Grass, Patrick Modiano, and Marguerite Duras."