DonRocks Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 I try to read at least one novel by each Nobel Prize Winning Author, just for the hell of it - for my own self-improvement, I guess. Having always considered myself fluent (or at least highly conversational) in French, and having read some pretty tough little books in French before, I decided to tackle one of Patrick Modiano's works in his native language, so I had my mother-in-law find and ship me a really nice copy of <<La Place de LÉtoile>>, one of his most important works. I read the preface, and understood the double-entendre. Great! I was going to blitz through this 211-page book in a couple of months. Then I got to the second page, and was staring down things like this list of idiomatic invectives, one right after the other: ... rantanplan ... Vlan! ... cet effréné empaffeur de petites Aryennes! ... Rastaquouère des cocktails infâmes! and so on, and so on. It took me an hour - with a dictionary - to read one page, and I closed the book and said, "To hell with it - this isn't French; this is Martian." So I took the more sensible route - or so I *thought* - and bought a translated book (and there weren't many available): "Missing Person," translated by Daniel Weissbort. One mistake was followed by another, the second being so significant that it stole six months from my life. First of all, "Missing Person" is some editor's *impossibly bad* translation of the novel's real name: <<Rues des Boutiques Obscures>>, which translates much more appropriately - and poetically - to "Streets of Obscure Boutiques." This book is, you see, a mystery novel in which the detective is also the subject - he can't remember who he is, so he spends the entire book chasing down leads as to his real identity, some of which are good, some of which aren't - hence, the beautiful title which was completely ruined in translation, the imagery of some poor man scurrying up-and-down streets with strange, but familiar, looking boutiques a near-perfect allegory of his search for himself. I was hell-bent on giving Modiano the respect of trying to solve this mystery before I got to the end of the book - so much so, that I wrote down, and kept track of, every single name, proper noun, street, etc., in the *entire book*, so when they were referred to again later on, I could go back and find the page on which they were originally referred. That's dedication, right? Yeah, that's dedication. Assuming the book has an ending. When I was 20 pages from the end, after spending about six months reading it, studiously assembling my study guide, an uneasy feeling came over me ... this book wasn't going anywhere. And then I cursed the author when I was 5 pages from the end, because I knew then that this was going to be one of "those" novels - this wasn't a mystery novel; it was a meditation on existence, and all that work I did was for *nothing*. Nada. Zilch. This was going to be a story without an ending. Then I read the final word, closed the book, and said to myself, "That bastard." It was like having read "Waiting for Godot" (for those who don't know: Godot never shows up), diligently writing down every possible clue throughout the entire story, only to have zero payoff at the end, and to have realized you wasted about forty hours of work. If I had only known, I would have read it differently, but I had no way to know. Well, I hope you all enjoy my Study Guide to NOTHING. I even went so far as to separate Rues, from Boulevards, from Avenues, and to think with about 50 pages left, I thought to myself, "You know, I'm going to have to read this a second time and write down all *phone numbers*, because what I'm doing isn't going to be enough. Listen up! Learn from my mistake in attempting to read this as a novel in which you can figure out clues. Had I done this properly, I would have included phone numbers, and also the page numbers for the dates at the very bottom. As it stands, *the entire project was a mistake*, and the novel is best blasted through without worrying about details. Read it in a week; not in six months. Trust me - my loss can be your gain. I will add that I just this moment purchased the hardcover version of this novel in French, and I'm going to "blast through it," <<sans dico>>, both to improve my French, and because I know I'll understand it very well, even though I won't know certain individual words - plus, I now have a brand new hardcover copy for my tiny, personal library, and also a paperback English-language copy to lend to my friends - one thing I am not, is a quitter. Enjoy! I sure as hell didn't. There are no spoilers here, and the page numbers represent the very first time in the book that something was referenced. This is an important note: The reason these lists look so "condensed" is because I often tapped them in on my cell phone, and was trying to keep one note per line. I had no intention of making these public, and they were for my own benefit - but it's obvious to me (now) that someone, at some point in time, might get some use out of them, so here they are in their "raw" format, with my apologies. Don Rockwell's Study Guide to ... NOTHING! Note: This ONLY applies to This Edition of "Missing Person" The sleuth *and* the subject is named Guy Roland - the entire story is about him trying to find out his true identity. Links that Guy Roland uses to get from one lead to the next:Hutte Sonachidze (how?) -> HeurteurStyoppa (funeral of de Rosen)Blunt (photo & funeral of Orlov)Howard (Lutte's directories)Pilgram (Howard's pic + Hutte)Ruddy bartender (Denise born)Mansoure (magazine cover) People mentioned in the story (again, the page cited is the very first time a name or person was referenced in the book - if something "important" shows up later, I'll sometimes write something such as [see 119] which means "see also page 119"):Guy Roland 1Constantin von Hutte 1"The dark little man, puffy face" 1The dark little man's wife 1Another dark little man 1Paul Sonachidze 5Jean Heurteur 7Styoppa de Dzhagorev 10Marie de Rosen 13Georges Sacher 13Giorgiadze 27Mara "Gay" Orlov 27Pedro the South American 27 [identified by Bob 64, lying on bed 115]Bernardy Mac Mahon 32Kyril Orlov 32Irene Giorgiadze 32Waldo Blunt 33Jean-Pierre Bernardy 33 [see 159]Lucky Luciano 38Howard de Luz (Jean Simety) 40 (48)John Gilbert 41Dany Blunt 42MmeMabel Donahue Simety 48Claude Howard 49Freddie [Alfred Jean 158] Howard de Luz 50 Robert "Bob," the Valbreuse caretaker 54 [named 58]French billiard-playing woman 61Freddy's jockey friend 64 [see 124]Robert Brun 66 (same as Bob 54?)R.L. de Oliveira Cezar, CG 67Helene Pilgram 68Policemen standing sentry 71Mr [Pedro?80] McEvoy 72 [Dominican Republic working at legation 119]Denise [Yvette Coudreuse] 73[79] ["Muth" 119]Leon Van Allen 73 [Dutch 119]Paul Coudreuse 79Henriette Bogaerts 79Jimmy Pedro Stern 79Oleg de Wrede (Paris) 81 [see 137]Ruddy bartender 86Jean-Michel Mansoure 89Hoyningen-Huene 95Alec Scouffi (Greek-Egypt) 97Blue Rider (Scouffi's killer) 99Richard Wall 10210-yr-old girl w/Denise 103Fat, bald man in pic w/cig 104Jacques [F 119] dressmaker Denise worked for on Rue la Boetie [#32 119] 107 Sir Basil Zaharoff 108Pretty dark-haired tropical Latina 112Man on beach with son 114King Gustav of Sweden 117De Swert 118Mrs. Kahan 118Georges Stern 120Giuvia Sarano 120Cueva 122Colonel de Basil 122Andre Wildmer 124Porfirio Rubirosa 127 [killed in car under?accident 129]Bob Besson 132Mrs. Jeanschmidt 136Mrs E. Khan 137Louis de Wrede, Comte de Montpensier (called Oleg) 138Duchess rof Uzes 138Duke of Windsor 138Mrs. Henri Duvernois 139Fair-Haired Man at Gare de Lyon 143 [Kyril 146] (Not Gay's father)George (Bar Owner in Megeve) 150Joseph Simety Howard De Luz 158Louise Fouquereaux 158Alex Maguy 162Japanese actor and his wife 162Evelyne and a pale young man 162Jean-Claude the Belgian 162Fribourg 165Fat Maori 165Alain Gerbault 165Rues (a <<Rue>> is a Street - I left the word "Rue" out of every one except the very first)Rue Vital 1Anatole-de-la-Forge 5 [see 162]Cambon 7 [Hotel Castille, 8th 119]Claude-Lorrain 13Charles-Marie-Widor 15Marie-Widor 15Boileau 16Chardon-Lagache 17[#9 121] Julien-Potin 22 [Pedro McElvoy? 121] [Porfirio Rubirosa 129]Ernest-Deloison 22du Mont-Thabor 25du Cirque 33[21, 23] Rayounard 48de Bassano 49[10A] Cambaceres (8th) 68Jenner (school) 89[1] Gabrielle (18th) 92Coustou 93Lepic 93des Abbesses 93Germain-Pilon 93[97] de Rome 5th floor (17th) 96[26] de Naples (8th) 105[11] de Berne (8th) 105[99] de Rome (17th) 105[97] de Rome (17th) 105la Boetie 108[97] de Rome 4th floor (17th) 110Molitor (16th) 112Mirabeau (16th) 112Royale 114Saint-Honore 114Longchamp 117[24] Bayard (8th) 120Jouy-en-Josas 123du Docteur-Kurzenne[22] de Picardie (Nice) 137Francois-1er 137[16] Foucault #5 160Rude 162de Saigon 162Chagrin 162 Avenues (for some perverse reason, I thought it might be important to separate out rues, avenues, and boulevards - again, I only used the word <<Avenue>> in the very first one):Avenue Paul-Doumer 1Niel 3de la Grande-Armee 7 [see 162]des Champs-Élysées 7de Versailles 18Montaigne 33[25] du Marechal-Lyautey 33de New-York 40Hoche 108Victor-Hugo 109 Boulevards (again, I only used the word <<Boulevard>> in the very first one>>):Boulevard Maurice-Barres 22Richard-Wallace 22de Clichy 93Moulin Rouge 93Graff's 93des Batignolles 107de Courcelles 108Emile-Augier 113 Places (again, I only mention <<Place>> in the very first one - a <<Place>> is like a Square, i.e., Times Square, Mount Vernon Square, etc.)Place Pereire 3Blanche 92des Abbesses 93Clichy 107de L'Etoile 108de Levis 109de l'Alma 114de la Concorde 114Malesherbes 140des Saussaies 142 All other nouns except for People:Paris 1Hutte's office and furnishings 1Nice 2Hortensias (cafe) 3Ville d'Avray 6Saint-Cloud 6Porte de Saint-Cloud 7Langer's 7Hotel Castille 7C.M. Hutte Agency 9Tanagra 9Alaverdi 11Sainte Genevieve-des-Bois 13Russian Orthodox Church 13Le Herisson 18School of Pages 19Porte Maillot 22Pont de Puteaux 22Seine 22The Emigration 23Georgian Consulate 27Yalta 28Quai du General-Koenig 29Bar-Restaurant de l'Ile 29 3 Addresses for Gay Orlov 33Hotel Chateaubriand 33Hilton Hotel Bar 33Sur les quais du Vieux Paris 34Sag Warum 35Que reste-t-il de nos amours 35Quai Branly 37Pont Bir-Hakeim 37Palm Island Casino 38Arkansas 38Quai de Passy 39Trocadero Gardens 40 [see 161]Pont d'Iena 40Hollywood 41Pont d'Alma 41Museum of Modern Art 41Eiffel Tower 44Auteuil Race Course 46Military Cross 48Club du Grand Pavois 48Motor Yacht Club of the Cote d'Azur 48Valbreuse, Orne (61,Alencon) 48Square Henri Pate 16th 49Golden Tripe Competition 49Mauritius 49 [Port Louis 158]Chateau Saint-Lazare 54 [named 67]Biarritz 59The billiard table in the summer dining-room 62LU Biscuit box 63Photographs in biscuit box 65La Baule 65Port of New York 66French Argentine Consulate 66DominicanRepublic passport67ANJou15-28 67Ph#s - 10A RueCambaceres68Lists of embassies/legations 69Dressmakers workshop 73Paramaribo, DutchGuyana 74Dominican Embassy 74Megeve 74Gilt box - English cigarettes 75Dominican Legation 75"Charlie Chan" 79"Anonymous Letters" 79Department du Seine 79 (13th)9A Quai d'Austerlitz 79AUTeuil54-73 81"History of the Restoration" (L. de Viel-Castel) 85A La Marine (cafe) 85"Men Spreekt Vlaamsch" 85Photo of Antwerp 86Gare d'Austerlitz 87Belgian cigarettes (Laurens) 87Quai d'Austerlitz 88 [#9, 13th 119]Belgium 88Botanical Gardens 91Wine Market 91Montmartre 94Sacre Coeur 94Vogue 95Wehrmacht musicians 96Marie Brizard 97 Alexandria, Egypt 98"Ship at Anchor" (Scouffi) 98Skeletal phone conversation 99Montmartre funicular 100Sacre Coeur gardens 100Seine-et Oise (was 78) 103Seine-et-Marne (77,Melun) 103Versailles 103Hotel de Chicago 105"At The Golden Fish Residential Hotel" (Scouffi) 105Salle Playel (Brussels) 105Theatre de la Monnaie (Brussels) 105Cafe at corner of Rue de Rome and Boulevard de Batignolles 108Parc Monceau 108Basque restaurant w/ Gascony fresco 109The Royal-Villiers, Place de Levis 109South American legation (Hutte's townhouse) 11216th arrondissement 112Cafe at intersection of Rue Mirabeau and Avenue de Versailles 113Auteuil 113Chausee de la Muette 113Russian restaurant with zither player 113Cours-la-Reine 114Queen Astrid's 115Faubourg Saint-Honore 115Portugal via Switzerland 116#6 Square de l'Opera 9th 119Megeve, Haute-Savoie 119Annemasse, Haute-Savoie 119Hotel Lincoln 8th 120Via delle Botteghe Oscure 2 Rome, Italy 120Valparaiso 122Plaza Echauren 122Cerro Alegre District 122Avenida Errazuriz 123Protestant church 123Robin Hood Inn 123Jouy-en-Josas 123Wine bar / grocery store on Ave Niel 124Giverny, Oise 125Alsace-Lorraine Gardens 127Eden Roc 127Square des Aliscamps 128Neuilly 129"El Reloj" and "Tu me acostumbraste" (guitar tunes) [129]Luiza School - Pedro's father would pick up him and Freddie [130] [Luiza and Albany School 135]Vincennes 132Vichy 133Parc des Sources 133Hotel de la Paix 133Cafe de la Restauration 133Border at Hendaye (closed) 135Chez Arkady (Russian restaurant) sometime around 1937 137Siberia 138Courcelles Metro Station 140Square Edouard-VII 141The Cintra 141Côte d'Azure 141"Collection du Masque" novels 142Gare de Lyon 142Sallanches 143"Invisible" Mentioned 146"The Southern Cross" Chalet 147Rochebrune 147Paris-Sport Magazine 147Hotel du Mont-Blanc 149L'Equipe (Adult Chalet) 150Comet Garage 153 [see 160]Valda Lozenge 157Port Louis, Mauritius 1585 Addresses for Alfred Jean Howard de Luz 158Island of Padipi 159 Papeete, French Polynesia 164Bora Bora 165Salle Pleyel 165Tuamotu Archipelago 165Marquesas 165Moluccan Blackbirds 166Seaside Resort in Southern Russia 167 Dates (Often given in the form of letters written to Guy Roland from people he asked questions to in his quest to find out about his life - I should have written down the page numbers also, but I didn't):1872?Marie Rosen born1885-04-28 Scouffi born1910-09-30 Waldo Blunt born1912-07-30 Alfred Jean Howard De Luz born, Port Louis, Mauritius1912-09-30 Jimmy Pedro Stern born, Salonica Greece1914 Mara Orlov born1914 Photo of "black and white" dinner party1914/1918SalonicaArchivesFire1917-12-21 Denise born1920 Scouffi to Feance1936 Mara Orlov USA->France????-02-14 Denise and Pedro1939-04-03 Pedro weds Denise town hall (17th)1939-04-03 Certified Abstract1940 Jimmy Stern disappears1940-12 Pedro McElvoy resides at #9 Rue Julien-Potin, Neuilly, Seine1941-04 Van Allen opens fashion house #6 Square de l'Opera 9th1941-07-15 Consulado letter1945-01 Van Allen's fashion house closes1943-02 Denise disappears crossing French-Swiss border1947 C.M. Hutte formed1950 Mara Orlov dies1950 Jean Alfred Howard de Luz leaves France for the Island of Padipi, Polynesia, near Bora Bora (Society Isles) 1591952 Waldo Blunt in Paris1965-10-23 Gay Orlov memo1965-11-07 Scouffi memo1965-11-27 Letter to Pedro from Mrs E. Khan (representing Hutte) telling Pedro all she knows about Oleg de Wrede Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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