Am茅lie Nothomb, born Fabienne Claire Nothomb, was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on 9 July 1966, to Belgian diplomats. Although Nothomb claims to have been born in Japan, she actually began living in Japan at the age of two until she was five years old. Subsequently, she lived in China, New York, Bangladesh, Burma, the United Kingdom (Coventry) and Laos. She is from a distinguished Belgian political family; she is notably the grand-niece of Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb, a Belgian foreign minister (1980-1981). Her first novel, Hygi猫ne de l'assassin, was published in 1992. Since then, she has published approximately one novel per year with a.o. Les Catilinaires (1995), Stupeur Et Tremblements (1999) and M茅taphysique des tubes (2000).
She has been awarded numerous prizes, including the 1999 Grand Prix du roman de l'Acad茅mie fran莽aise; the Prix Ren茅-Fallet; and twice the Prix Alain-Fournier. While in Japan, she attended a local school and learned Japanese. When she was five the family moved to China. "Quitter le Japon fut pour moi un arrachement" ("Leaving Japan was a wrenching separation for me") she writes in Fear and Trembling. Nothomb moved often, and did not live in Europe until she was 17, when she moved to Brussels. There, she reportedly felt as much a stranger as everywhere else. She studied philology at the Universit茅 Libre de Bruxelles. After some family tensions, she returned to Japan to work in a big Japanese company in Tokyo. Her experience of this time is told in Fear and Trembling. She has written a romanticized biography (Robert des noms propres) for the French female singer RoBERT in 2002 and during the period 2000-2002 she wrote the lyrics for nine tracks of the same artist. Many ideas inserted in her books come from the conversations she had with an Italian man, from late eighties and during the nineties. She used the French Minitel, while he used the Italian Videotel system, connected with the French one. They never met personally.
This was more a novella for teenagers of all ages, or in other words a late flowering of the Romantic movement in literature than the mythologising memoir that was .
The style has a clear and easy flow. A previous reader had helpfully noted down the translation of some of the tricker vocabulary, but unfortunately in pencil and far too faintly for me to benefit from their effort.
Nothomb is comfortable working from a small palate, there are only three characters and most of the story takes place in one location. The story is simply showing us how themain character comes to be about to carry out an act of Byronic self-destruction, not on political grounds but like a good Byronic hero out of pure hatred. It is all cleanly fone with the story proceeding through conversations and interior reflection.
Schubert'in K谋艧 Yolculu臒u eserinden ba艧l谋臒谋n谋 alan novella, bir a艧谋臒谋n intikam almay谋 tasarlamas谋na yol a莽an olaylar谋 anlat谋yor. S谋rad谋艧谋 bir adam谋n bak谋艧 a莽谋s谋n谋, yal谋n ama mizah unsuru bol c眉mlelerle g枚zler 枚n眉ne sererken, insan zihninin delili臒e varan tuhafl谋臒谋na selam 莽ak谋yor yazar. K谋艧 mevsiminin so臒uklu臒unu iliklerinize kadar hissediyor ve baz谋 mevsimlerin a艧谋klara iyi gelmedi臒ini anl谋yorsunuz:)
Yak谋n bir zamanda yazar hakk谋nda payla艧谋mlar yapan arkada艧lar谋m Ayten 脟elebi ve Ramazan Atlen'in 枚vg眉lerine mazhar olan Nothomb 'u tan谋mak i莽in do臒ru kitap m谋yd谋, bilemedim. Ancak bir yerden ba艧layay谋m dedim. Kitaplar谋n谋n zor bulunuyor olmas谋 can s谋k谋c谋 olsa da Katilin Devas谋'n谋 alabildim, bu kitaptan beklentim daha y眉ksek.
Zo茂le , impiegato in una societ脿 di elettronica e appassionato dell鈥橭dissea, 猫 un uomo normale che conduce una vita normale fino a quando non conosce Astrolabio, una bellissima giovane donna con un nome improbabile come il suo , e la cui vita 猫 tutt'altro che ordinaria. 脠 l鈥檃gente letterario di Ali茅nor, ma in realt脿 si occupa totalmente di lei, una scrittrice dal genio atipico che trae l鈥檌spirazione dal suo essere diversa perch茅 soffre di una forma di autismo che non le permette neppure di scrivere i suoi romanzi da sola.
鈥淚l suo talento 猫 una difesa immunitaria che non avrebbe sviluppato se non fosse stata malata.鈥�
鈥淗o giurato ad Ali茅nor di non lasciarla mai da sola.鈥� 鈥淎li茅nor sar脿 sempre presente.鈥�
Zo茂le si innamora di Astrolabio e iniziano una strana relazione d'amore, ma quando Zoile si rende conto che Astrolabio non si impegner脿 mai completamente con lui, decide di dirottare un aereo e farlo schiantare contro la Torre Eiffel.
鈥淎strolabe: 猫 per lei che mi accingo a dirottare questo aereo, ovvio. L鈥檌dea a lei farebbe orrore. Pazienza: ci sono donne che bisogna amare loro malgrado, e azioni che bisogna compiere nostro malgrado.鈥�
L'intera storia 猫 il diario di Zoile che sta scrivendo dall'aeroporto mentre aspetta di decidere se salire su quel volo.
La tagliente ironia e i dialoghi incompiuti non mi hanno entusiasmata, ma Il viaggio d鈥檌nverno resta per me il miglior libro di Am茅lie Nothomb che sicuramente ha una rara gestione dell'incongruente, del ridicolo dove lo standard non 猫 ci貌 in cui crediamo. La storia si sviluppa attorno alle dinamiche e le relazioni tra un trio incerto, in cui gli interessi dell鈥檜no vanno di pari passo con quelli dell'altro. 脠 un confronto passivo, che marca la differenza, l'amore, l鈥檃bnegazione, l鈥檃uto distruzione
鈥淚gnoro cosa sia una vittoria in amore, ma una cosa la so: non esiste sconfitta in amore. 脠 una contraddizione in termini 鈥�
Il gelo parigino congela tutto, le atmosfere, il cuore e anche il non finale della storia
Como quisiera poder tener la oportunidad de conocer a esta mujer y charlar con un caf茅 o mejor con un vino y escuchar todo lo que por su cabeza pasa, me parece una persona sencillamente genial, creativa, y bastante diferente. En esta historia odi茅 inmensamente al protagonista, pero est谩 cargado de tantas verdades, de tantas frases 煤nicas y verdaderas que no puedo m谩s que valorarla por su todo. Ahora me pregunto que puede pasar por los pensamientos de Amelie para escribir algo as铆???
Dieses Buch war leider ein echter Flopp... Ich habe hier nichts mitnehmen k枚nnen und mich ehrlich gesagt gefragt, aus welchen Impulsen heraus Amelie Nothomb diese Geschichte geschrieben hat... Wenn sie innerhalb dieses Buches ihre eigenen Erfahrungen mit psychedelischen Trips aufarbeiten wollte... na dann herzlichen Gl眉ckwunsch...馃槄馃檲
I see the tower, as literature. Because they are both the legacy of past, lacking a reason to be appreciated because of their age anymore; Specially in the age of media (this big lie as mentioned in the story) And i see it as literature, and as language, because of its duality, and because of the A shape and the A sound. (And this cliche of parisian literature shown by Eifel tower shall be destroyed so that a new language, a new literature can be born)
From the beginning of the book, we are repeatedly told that this piece of paper is going to be destroyed, and then we are told that only the beautiful and the meaningful were destroyed. As the icy woman in Arthemis temple is vanished and is therefore available to the eyes of a stoned (or to the eyes of an asleep person, considering the 8 hours of unconsciousness) the form and the meaning shall be both ruined to create a formless new moeaning.
This duality, this opposition of presence/absence, calmness/violence, being sober/being stoned, being whole/being incomplete, speaking/writing can even be seen in the author character, the shadow, the twin, the opposition of the beloved girl, both sharing the initiative A, and ine lacking a family name.
And this all happens because of Lacanian lack, which is not to be fulfilled. Ever.