While his preoccupation with the period of the Occupation remains

a permanent theme, Patrick Modiano is increasingly interested in

the exploration of time and memory, and the attendant problem of reconstituting

the past. This volume explores all these features. It casts new light on Modiano's

earliest novels, examines afresh his more recent work including his stories for

children, situates it in the context of contemporary writing and unravels the

intricacies and subtleties of his style. It underlines Modiano's position as one

of France's major writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and will

be of interest to all who are interested in the modern French novel and the

complex interactions between fiction and history.