Hunger, Pregnancy, and Being Numerous: Tin House's Interview with Amélie Nothomb
Below a snippet from Heather Hartley's interview with Amélie Nothomb (Tokyo Fiancée) appearing in this month's Tin House Magazine. The printed edition also includes an extract from Amélie's Hygiene and the Assassin, due out in fall 2010.
(Complete interview online at TinHouse.com)
AN: I’m a numerous being. I am numerous. [Je suis un être nombreux. Je suis nombreuse.] Writing for me is a descent into myself to a place where I’m entirely porous and where I can let myself be completely penetrated or possessed by all the individuals I could have been in all of humanity. It’s very destabilizing to live through this yourself, and I know that it’s also very destabilizing for many of my readers. It’s something that comes back to me a lot.
I’m a “bestseller,” so I have all sorts of different readers, and among these, some who regularly ask me, “But why have you written this awful book? When I see you, you’re in good health, you look happy, you have a good life . . . Why did you write that?” And I say to them, “You’re absolutely right. There’s no good reason.” Rather, it’s just that I let myself be open to all of that.
HH: Yes, the seed comes and—
AN: That’s it.
HH: And you can do nothing?
AN: Exactly. I can’t do anything.
Read the complete interview on TinHouse.com
(Complete interview online at TinHouse.com)
AN: I’m a numerous being. I am numerous. [Je suis un être nombreux. Je suis nombreuse.] Writing for me is a descent into myself to a place where I’m entirely porous and where I can let myself be completely penetrated or possessed by all the individuals I could have been in all of humanity. It’s very destabilizing to live through this yourself, and I know that it’s also very destabilizing for many of my readers. It’s something that comes back to me a lot.
I’m a “bestseller,” so I have all sorts of different readers, and among these, some who regularly ask me, “But why have you written this awful book? When I see you, you’re in good health, you look happy, you have a good life . . . Why did you write that?” And I say to them, “You’re absolutely right. There’s no good reason.” Rather, it’s just that I let myself be open to all of that.
HH: Yes, the seed comes and—
AN: That’s it.
HH: And you can do nothing?
AN: Exactly. I can’t do anything.
Read the complete interview on TinHouse.com