Belgian writer Amelie Notomb: biography, creativity

Today one of the most popular writers of Europe is the Belgian novelist, writing in French, Amelie Notomb. In a short time she managed to achieve fame and recognition both among readers and literary critics.

Citizen of the world

Amelie was born in the small commune Etterbek, which forms the Brussels capital region, in 1966. The population of this town was slightly more than 40 thousand people. True, for a long time the future writer did not stay in it. All thanks to the father - Baron Patrick Notombu. He worked as a diplomat, so Amelie spent her childhood and youth in China, the United States of America, Burma, Japan, Laos and Bangladesh. All this could not but leave a deep imprint on her work.

Beginning to live permanently in Belgium, Amelie Notomb arrives at the Faculty of Romance Languages of the Free University of Brussels. After studying for 5 years, it goes, perhaps, to the most exotic state of Asia - Japan. 10 years spent in the capital of this country - Tokyo, allowed Amelie to write one of his most famous works - the novel "Tokyo Bride." It was after him that the writer was recognized on the street, invited to literary forums and festivals.

The first novel

The first major prose work, which was able to publish Notomb, is the novel "The Hygiene of the Murderer." Amelie finished it in 1992, however, it was translated into Russian only in 2005.

This is one of the longest books of the writer, which does not become less interesting from this. The protagonist is Nobel laureate, the famous writer Pretextum Tah. By the way, unusual, and sometimes simply ridiculous names of heroes - one of the distinctive features of Notomb.

Despite his genius and celebrity, the writer is a rare snob, a cynic and a misanthrope. At the time of the beginning of the novel, he is 83 years old, he is seriously ill, without hope for a cure. And then decided on the first interview in his life. And then he starts to receive journalists one by one.

However, most of them do not stay long. Only one young journalist communicates with Takh for a long time and unravels the most terrible secret of his life.

"Neither Eve, nor Adam"

This is the term for the novel Amelie Notomb in 2007, literally translated into Russian, the Russian reader better known as the "Tokyo Bride." This book may seem biographical. However, the writer insists that life only prompted the plot. Although she had a long period when she herself went to the brides of an extraordinary Japanese.

The novel "Neither Eve, nor Adam" is a story of passionate love between a French writer and a young toky from a rich family. Roman first developed as a relationship between a teacher and a student, because Amelie (the heroine of the novel) gives lessons to the French inquisitive Japanese. Not fully mastering the language of Moliere and Zola, he first calls her "my mistress." The pun of the situation is that this expression is similar to the French "my mistress", and also it matters "teacher".

The successful adaptation

The real glory for Amelie Notomb came after the release of the film set on "The Tokyo Bride." The picture in 2014 was shot by the Belgian director and screenwriter Stefan Libersky.

Just like in the novel, in the film a young and ambitious heroine comes to the country of her childhood to find inspiration and create her first novel. In order to make a living, she gives announcements of private lessons in French, to which comes the only pupil - a pretty Rinri.

The events of the film unfold on numerous parties, in unexpected travels, in which Amelie goes to Japan. All this allows her to discover this country from a new, previously unexplored side, to learn how to love and appreciate the relationship between people.

The slogan of the film "New Amelie" in the scenery of Tokyo "guaranteed the picture success.

On the stage of "Satyricon"

Another work of Notomb is very familiar to the Russian reader - this is the novel "Cosmetics of the enemy", written in 2001 and almost immediately translated into Russian. On the stage of the theater "Satyricon" in 2008 appeared the same name staging, which is still enjoying success among the audience. The director and performer of one of the main roles was Roman Kozak, also in the play Konstantin Raikin is involved .

"Cosmetics of the enemy" is a fascinating story about the meeting of two people. Between them a conversation is tied. By the way, this is another feature of the Notomb style - there are very few descriptions and arguments here, mostly just dialogues. To the reader at first time it seems that this is a trifling, to nothing non-binding chatter. However, over time, the connection between the heroes becomes more obvious, and the revelations that will occur are all worse. Unexpected outcome is the corporate reception of Notomb, with the help of which she manages to keep the reader in suspense and ignorance to the last pages of the novel.

This book by a Belgian writer scrupulously examines the darkest aspects of the human soul. Who actually turn out to be the heroes of the novel, almost nobody can guess.

Literary life

Notomb is a very prolific author. By the age of 50 she had already published more than 20 novels, as well as her stories, poems and plays. Today the writer settled in Paris, only occasionally visiting her relatives and friends in Brussels.

Her first significant award she received for the novel "Fear and Awe." It was the Grand Prix of the French Academy. This is one of the most prestigious literary awards, which appeared in 1914. Among her laureates were Alfons de Chateaubriand, Francois Moriak, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Jonathan Littell and many others. This is not only a prestigious prize, but also a significant monetary reward, which today is equal to seven and a half thousand euros.

Almost all of Notb's novels have been translated into Russian, many of them have been screened or staged in theaters around the world, among them "Fear and Awe", "Antichrist". Her last notable work is the novel The Crime of Count Neville - completed in 2015.

In the same year, Amelie Notomb, whose books were already fond of many, was granted the baron's title, which belonged to her father. Did this Belgian King Philip. Despite the fact that Amelie is the daughter of an aristocrat, until that moment she did not have an official title.