Winning words

Nobel laureate Patrick Modiano has plenty of fans among the Chinese literati, Xing Yi reports.

Compared to Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, who enjoys a wide readership in China and is a perennial favorite for the Nobel Prize for literature, the newly minted laureate Patrick Modiano seems less-known among general Chinese readers. But the French writer is held in high esteem by the literary circles, who believe that the Modiano's win is well-deserved if unexpected.

Dong Qiang, a professor of French literature at Peking University, told the media that since Modiano has been a celebrated writer in France, it's not a surprise that he won the prize. What surprised him was that a French writer was awarded the Nobel, since it was only six years ago that another French writer, Le Clezio, took the prize. The Swedish Academy is known for spreading the literature prize to authors from different countries.

"If one studies French literature, one can't avoid Modiano," Dong says. "Many doctoral students of mine wrote their dissertations about him."

Born in a western Paris suburb in July 1945 - two months after World War II ended in Europe - Modiano spent most of his life in France and studied at Lycee Henri-IV in Paris, the top preparatory school in France. His geometry teacher there was Raymond Queneau, a writer who was a major influence on him.

In the first interview Modiano gave after winning the Nobel, he explained that writing for him is a natural thing that he started quite young: "It's something that's been part of my life since the beginning."

Modiano has published about 30 works, including novels, film scripts and children's books, since his first book, La Place de l'etoile, in 1968.

Modiano's works focus on the occupation of France during the World War II, and invite the reader to seek identity through memory and history.