Analysis of the narrative program and the actantial model in the A Trace of Malice by Patrick Modiano

One of the most important elements of Patrick Modiano's novels is the investigation of identity. A Trace of Malice begins and ends with distance from the identity. This article tends to find why the identity issu in the initial situation, which has led to some investigations in actions happened in the past, is different from the identity issu at the end of the novel. In order to answer this question, we use the narrative programs and the model of actors by Algirad Greimas. So, the text has been divided into three different structures : surface structure, functional structure and semiotics structure. In semiotics structure, we cut up the text into some sequences; each sequence is considered like a sample of whole text. It seems that what we can find in each sequence exists in whole text. At the end, we have presented the actantial model. As a result, we have found that one person appears at the same time in the role of the three main actants in the narrative: subject, sender and receiver. Three roles by one person might be the reason why the object loses its value for principal actant.