Hygiene and the Assassin by Amélie Nothomb (Book Analysis)

This practical and insightful reading guide offers a complete summary and analysis of Hygiene and the Assassin by Amélie Nothomb. It provides a thorough exploration of the novel’s plot, characters and main themes, including crime, misanthropy and the failings of modern society. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

This clear and detailed 64-page reading guide is structured as follows:

• Biography of Amélie Nothomb
• Presentation of Hygiene and the Assassin
• Summary of Hygiene and the Assassin
• Character study
  • Prétextat Tach
  • Nina
  • The other journalists
  • Léopoldine
• Analysis of Hygiene and the Assassin
  • Noir fiction
  • Social criticism
  • Writing as a way of inflicting harm
  • A theatrical style
  • Misogyny

About Hygiene and the Assassin

Hygiene and the Assassin tells the story of a reclusive Nobel Prize-winning author who grants a series of interviews to assuage his boredom as he reaches the twilight of his life. He anticipates leaving the journalists who visit him humiliated with his scathing verbal attacks, and all seems to be going to plan until he encounters Nina, who refuses to be intimidated by him and has unearthed a long-buried secret which will profoundly change both of them.

Hygiene and the Assassin met with critical acclaim when it was first published in 1992, winning both the Prix René-Fallet, which is awarded each year to a writer under the age of 45 for their first novel, and the Prix Alain-Fournier, which is awarded to promising writers at the start of their career.

About Amélie Nothomb

Amélie Nothomb is a Belgian writer who was born in Japan in 1967. She is the daughter of a diplomat, and has therefore lived in several different countries, particularly in Asia. She studied philology at the Université libre de Bruxelles, after which she returned to Japan to work in Tokyo. She published her first novel, Hygiene and the Assassin, in 1992. After this, she began to regularly write books, releasing more or less one every year. Several of her novels have an autobiographical dimension.

In 2015, Nothomb was elected to the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium, and she is now one of the most widely read contemporary French-languages authors in the world.