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Hygiene and the Assassin by Amelie Nothomb, translated by Alison Anderson

Language: French
Country: France
Publisher: Europa Editions
Pages: 167

Why This Book Should Win: 糖心传媒淚 didn糖心传媒檛 use to believe in the efficacy of verbal torture. And now as of these last few minutes I糖心传媒檝e started to believe in it.糖心传媒�

This post was written by aspiring German translator and recent 糖心传媒 graduate, Jen Marquart.

After receiving news that he has a rare form of cancer, Nobel Prize winning author Pr茅textat Tach decides to grant interviews to five journalists. The first four approach Tach from a straightforward manner糖心传媒攂elieving to have out smarted former colleagues糖心传媒攖o be torn apart, humiliated, sickened and broken. Only with Nina, the fifth journalist, does the obese, grotesque, misogynist author meet his match in a brutal game of verbal wit. By the end of the interview both Nina and Tach have plunged into an inescapable abyss.

With each interview reading as a separate story around the central theme of literary culture (more specifically what it means to be a 糖心传媒済ood writer/reader糖心传媒� and the politics surrounding the Nobel Prize for Literature) Nothomb, in her powerful first novel, commands a dialogue digging at these issues:

糖心传媒淸糖心传媒 You have sold millions of copies, even in China, and that doesn糖心传媒檛 make you think?糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淲eapons factories sell thousands of missiles the world over every day, and that doesn糖心传媒檛 make them think, either.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淭here糖心传媒檚 no comparison.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淵ou don糖心传媒檛 think so? And yet there is a striking parallel. There糖心传媒檚 an accumulation, for example: we talk about an arms race, we should talk about a 糖心传媒榣iterature race.糖心传媒� It糖心传媒檚 a cogent argument like any other: every nation brandishes its writer or writers as if they were cannons. Sooner or later I too will be brandished, and they糖心传媒檒l prepare my Nobel Prize for battle.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淚f that糖心传媒檚 the way you look at it, I have to agree with you. But thank God, literature is less harmful.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淣ot mine. My literature is even more harmful then war.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淒on糖心传媒檛 you think you are flattering yourself there?糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淲ell I糖心传媒檓 obliged to, because I am the only reader who is capable of understanding me. Yes, my books are more harmful than war, because they make you want to die, whereas war, in fact, makes you want to live. After reading me, people should feel like committing suicide.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淎nd how do you explain the fact that they don糖心传媒檛?糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淲ell, I can explain it very easily: it is because nobody reads me. Basically, that may also be the reason for my extraordinary success: if I am so famous, my good man, it is because nobody reads me.糖心传媒�

These funny and critical exchanges are taken to a higher level with Nina, who plays Tach糖心传媒檚 game equally well, if not better. She plays with his words and calls bullshit on his 糖心传媒淔reudian Slips,糖心传媒� all in an attempt to tease out the 糖心传媒榬eal糖心传媒� Pr茅textat Tach.

With biting witticism and the criticism of literature swirling around the disturbing life of one Nobel Prize author, Hygiene and the Assassin is one of the funniest and most engaging books I have read.