Amélie Nothomb (born
Fabienne on August 13, 1967) is a Belgian
writer who writes in French.
Biography
She was
born in Kobe, Japan
to Belgian
diplomats. She lived there until she was five years old,
and then subsequently lived in China
, New York
, Bangladesh
, Burma
, a stint in
Coventry and Laos
.
She is
from a distinguished Belgian
political
family; she is notably the grandniece of Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb, a
Belgian foreign minister (1980-1981) and great granddaughter of
writer and politician Pierre
Nothomb. Her first
novel,
Hygiène de l'assassin, was published in 1992. Since then,
she has published approximately one novel per year, including
Les Catilinaires (1995),
Fear and Trembling (1999)
and
Métaphysique des tubes (published in English as
The Character of Rain) (2000).
She has been awarded numerous prizes, including the 1999
Grand Prix
du roman de l'Académie française; the
Prix René-Fallet; and the 1993
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 Université
Libre de Bruxelles
. After some family tensions, she returned to
Japan to work in a Japanese company in Tokyo
. Her
experience of this time is told in
Fear and Trembling. She
has written a romanticized
biography
(
The Book of Proper Names) 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 in person.
Bibliography
Published
(in French)
|
Original title |
English title |
English publication details |
| 1992 |
|
The hygiene of the assassin |
|
| 1993 |
|
Loving Sabotage |
W. W. Norton & Co, hardback, 2000, ISBN 0811214591
Faber and Faber, paperback, 2003,
ISBN 0571226639
|
| 1993 |
(Longue Vue)
|
|
|
| 1994 |
|
Human Rites |
Oberon Books, paperback, 2005, ISBN 1840025395 |
| 1995 |
|
The Stranger Next Door |
Holt (Henry) & Co, hardback, 1996, ISBN 0805048413 |
| 1996 |
|
|
|
| 1997 |
|
|
|
| 1998 |
|
|
|
| 1999 |
|
Fear and
Trembling |
Faber and Faber, paperback,
2002, ISBN 0571220487 |
| 1999 |
( )
|
|
|
| 2000 |
|
The Character of
Rain |
Faber and Faber, paperback,
2003, ISBN 0571220495 |
| 2000 |
(La Pierre d’Alun)
|
|
|
| 2001 |
|
The enemy's cosmetique |
|
| 2001 |
|
Aspirin |
|
| 2001 |
(Elle)
|
|
|
| 2002 |
|
The Book of Proper Names |
Faber and Faber, paperback,
2004, ISBN 0571223443 |
| 2003 |
|
Antichrista |
Faber and Faber, paperback,
2004, ISBN 0571224830 |
| 2004 |
(Elle)
|
|
|
| 2004 |
|
The Life of Hunger |
Faber and Faber, hardback,
2006 |
| 2005 |
|
Sulphuric Acid |
Faber and Faber, hardback,
2007 |
| 2006 |
|
|
|
| 2007 |
|
Tokyo Fiancée |
Europa Editions, hardback,
2008 |
| 2007 |
|
|
|
| 2008 |
|
|
|
|
| 2009 |
|
|
|
|
Unless otherwise stated, all works were originally published in
French by
Éditions Albin
Michel.
External links
- Official site at Éditions Albin Michel
- Antéchrista, unofficial site
- Amélie Nothomb on Biblioweb
- Criticisms of Human Rites on Lire.fr
- AMELIE NOTHOMB, Une plume, Un univers... (=Amélie
Nothomb, A style of writing, A world...) : a French forum, very
complete, and well-documented about the author, her work, her
inspiring influences, current events, etc.
- Fan site
- Reader's comment on l'Hygiène de
l'Assassin
- Reader's comment on Métaphysique des Tubes
- Reader's comment on Les Combustibles
- [110397] : an Italian website & forum at
Voland edizioni
References
- to be published in September 2009