Out of the Dark/Du Plus Lio De L'Oubli

Patrick Modiano, the author of more than twenty books, is one of France's most admired contemporary novelists.Out of the Darkis a moody, expertly rendered tale of a love affair between two drifters.The narrator, writing in 1995, looks back thirty years to a time when, having abandoned his studies and selling off old art books to get by, he comes to know Gerard Van Bever and Jacqueline, a young, enigmatic couple who seem to live off roulette winnings. He falls in love with Jacqueline; they run off to England together, where they share a few sad, aimless months, until one day she disappears. Fifteen years later, in Paris, they meet again, a reunion that only recalls the haunting inaccessibility of the past: they spend a few hours together, and the next day, Jacqueline, now married, disappears once again. Almost fifteen years after that, he sees her yet again, this time from a distance he chooses not to bridge. A profoundly affecting novel,Out of the Darkis poignant, strange, delicate, melancholy, and sadly hilarious.

Jordan Stump is an assistant professor of French at the University of Nebraska. He is the translator of four novels by Marie Redonnet and also of Eric Chevillard’s The Crab Nebula (all available from the University of Nebraska Press).