Patrick Modiano
Accident Nocturne (2003)
Un jeune homme de vingt ans — pas encore majeur vers 1965 — erre, absent, la nuit dans Paris lorsqu'il se fait renverser place des Pyramides par une automobile, une « Fiat couleur vert d'eau ». Transporté par la police à l'Hôtel-Dieu avec la conductrice elle aussi blessée, il est admis pour une plaie au pied puis transféré, dans un état pas très conscient, à la chic clinique Mirabeau du XVIe arrondissement. Sa convalescence lui permet de se remémorer un accident similaire qu'il avait subi dans sa petite enfance, rue du Docteur-Kurzenne à Jouy-en-Josas, marqué par le souvenir de l'éther — sa première rencontre avec l'anesthésiant — et d'une jeune femme à ses côtés. Ne réussissant pas à distinguer son souvenir de son accident immédiat, il part dès sa sortie de la clinique à la recherche de la conductrice — dont il a entendu le nom, Jacqueline Beausergent et une adresse au square de l'Alboni — dans le quartier entourant les jardins du Trocadéro, abandonnant son logement de la rue de la Voie-Verte. Il finit par la retrouver, par hasard ou mené par un chien errant, dans un bar-restaurant de la rue Vineuse dénommé Vol de nuit.
The bridge of Arts
Opposite the apartment, the Pont des Arts allows you to pass in a few strides from the left bank to the right bank. Modiano will cross this symbolic border very early to join his mother who plays au Fountain Theater. And to discover new neighborhoods.
"Passing on the right bank, I had the feeling of entering a space of freedom but also of disturbing adventure. It is linked to very specific memories of a police station, which was installed in the square courtyard of the Louvre, just before rue de Rivoli. For me, it symbolizes a kind of customs post. We reached the left bank by the very provincial Pont des Arts, which was rather charming. On the other hand, I could not access the left bank right, at least in my imagination as a 14-year-old child who still thought he was breaking the law, that by crossing this dark and threatening customs guarded by policemen in caps..."
The bridge of Arts
Opposite the apartment, the Pont des Arts allows you to pass in a few strides from the left bank to the right bank. Modiano will cross this symbolic border very early to join his mother who plays au Fountain Theater. And to discover new neighborhoods.
"Passing on the right bank, I had the feeling of entering a space of freedom but also of disturbing adventure. It is linked to very specific memories of a police station, which was installed in the square courtyard of the Louvre, just before rue de Rivoli. For me, it symbolizes a kind of customs post. We reached the left bank by the very provincial Pont des Arts, which was rather charming. On the other hand, I could not access the left bank right, at least in my imagination as a 14-year-old child who still thought he was breaking the law, that by crossing this dark and threatening customs guarded by policemen in caps..."
The bridge of Arts
Opposite the apartment, the Pont des Arts allows you to pass in a few strides from the left bank to the right bank. Modiano will cross this symbolic border very early to join his mother who plays au Fountain Theater. And to discover new neighborhoods.
"Passing on the right bank, I had the feeling of entering a space of freedom but also of disturbing adventure. It is linked to very specific memories of a police station, which was installed in the square courtyard of the Louvre, just before rue de Rivoli. For me, it symbolizes a kind of customs post. We reached the left bank by the very provincial Pont des Arts, which was rather charming. On the other hand, I could not access the left bank right, at least in my imagination as a 14-year-old child who still thought he was breaking the law, that by crossing this dark and threatening customs guarded by policemen in caps..."