The Writing Of The Spectacle Society In Modiano’s Later Novels

Patrick Modiano(1945-)is one of the most important writers in modern French literature.Modiano keeps on writing,since the publication of his first novel The Square of Stars,he has contributed 27 novels to the world literary world(6 novels in the earlier period and 21 novels in the later period).His works,especially his later works,explore the smallness of human beings and reveal the separation and alienation of human beings in the landscape world.It provides a mirror for us to understand the contemporary French society,and also has a certain realistic warning significance for our society today.This thesis is divided into three parts:introduction,text and conclusion,among which,the body part is divided into four chapters.The introduction introduces the reasons for selecting the topic,the research status at home and abroad,the significance of selecting the topic and the research methods.At present,foreign researches on Modiano’s novels mainly discuss the theme of memory,the theme of identity,the narrative art and the characteristics of postmodernism in his works,while domestic studies on Modiano’s novels mainly discuss the image of "beach man",female image,urban youth image,pursuit and escape theme,memory theme,allegory and trauma narrative.Through the research,the author finds that Modiano’s later works are closely related to the international trend of Contextualism and the May storm movement in France at that time,and also closely related to the landscape society theory put forward by Debord,an important French intellectual and revolutionary in the 20th century.So far,there has not been a study of Modiano using the theory of landscape society abroad,in China,there is only a paper by Liao Wang,but it only involves a single work,which enlightens the author and serves as the reason for the topic selection.Therefore,this paper mainly uses Debord’s landscape social theory,combined with social historical criticism and feminist criticism to explore the landscape writing in Modiano’s later novels,and further excavates the potential social criticism and realistic warning significance in the novels.The first chapter discusses the urban landscape in Modiano’s later novels.Modiano’s description of rural natural landscape is less,mainly describing the urban landscape represented by Paris.These urban landscapes are first presented as urban space landscapes.In Modiano’s writing,both public and private spaces have become the agglomeration of landscape.Secondly,it presents as the commercial media landscape.As the representatives of the commercial society,advertisements and neon lights most typically show the prosperity of the landscape society.Finally,it presents the cultural conflict landscape represented by the left bank and the right bank,with the development of capitalist economy,the left bank and the right bank of the Seine River are divided into two different regions,and the opposition between the two sides and the final engulfment of the left bank by the right bank just represent the omnipresence of the landscape.The second chapter discusses the alienation of man in landscape society in Modiano’s later novels.In such a landscape society,people will also be alienated.This alienation is mainly reflected in three aspects:first,the blind pursuit of non real landscape fame and wealth.The protagonists are either crazy about fame and wealth or obsessed with money,which is essentially the pursuit of landscape.Secondly,the real identity of the characters is hidden and can’t be distinguished.In the bizarre landscape society,people’s identity will also change.This change may be active or passive,but in the final analysis,it is affected by the landscape.Finally,there is the alienation of interpersonal relations,which is prominently manifested in the alienation of relations between relatives,lovers and friends.The third chapter discusses the subversive strategies against landscape society in Modiano’s later novels.In Modiano’s writing,the protagonists are not knocked down by the landscape,but actively seek strategies to subvert the landscape society.These strategies can be summarized by the drift,abnormal track and construction in Debord’s works.Drift is a creative attempt to break the inherent division between cities.Modiano’s protagonists are actively acting as "drifters" of cities.Alienism is a way to form a new meaning by dissolving the alien object and endowing it with new meaning.In Modiano’s later novels,the alien is mainly manifested in two ways:the alien of the self-role and the alien of the character revolution.The structure is the purpose of drift and deviant,through which the protagonists finally achieve the purpose of reconstruction of life situation.Through these three strategies,we can see the attempts of Modiano’s protagonists to break through the dilemma of landscape.The fourth chapter discusses the reasons of landscape writing in Modiano’s later novels.From the perspective of personal reasons,the main reason is the relationship between Modiano and Situationist International.As a far-reaching international trend of thought,Situationist International not only sets off a huge wave in the field of sociology,but also profoundly influences the literary field of France.There is also Modiano’s sense of social criticism,Modiano is a very sensitive writer to the society.Many of his later works imply the author’s criticism of the landscape society at that time by describing the protagonists’ struggling,wandering and ups and downs in the society at that time.The social reasons include the development of post-war capitalist economy,the rampant consumption culture,the emergence of the principle of visual supremacy,and the spread of the theory of landscape society.In the concluding part,through the landscape writing in Modiano’s later novels,we can see his criticism of the French landscape society,and finally elaborate the realistic warning significance of landscape writing in Modiano’s later novels for our society today.Today’s world is under the rule of landscape.Only when we have a correct understanding of landscape,can we maintain our true self in the contemporary society and not be alienated by the spectacle society.