Fear and Trembling by Amélie Nothomb (Book Analysis)

This practical and insightful reading guide offers a complete summary and analysis of Fear and Trembling by Amélie Nothomb. It provides a thorough exploration of the novel’s plot, characters and main themes, including work and hierarchy in Japan. 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 25-page reading guide is structured as follows:

• Biography of Amélie Nothomb
• Presentation of Fear and Trembling
• Summary of Fear and Trembling
• Character study
  • Amélie, the narrator
  • Miss Fubuki Mori
  • Mr. Saito
  • Mr. Omochi
  • Mr. Haneda
  • Mr. Tenshi
• Analysis of Fear and Trembling
  • Between an autobiography and a vocational story
  • Intertextuality in the title
  • A closed space
  • Otherness

About Fear and Trembling

Fear and Trembling was first published in 1999. It is a fictionalised autobiography which tells the story of Nothomb’s experience of work in Japan through the character Amélie. According to the book, the title comes from the expectation that people must demonstrate their respect for the Japanese Emperor through fear and trembling.

Fear and Trembling was released to critical acclaim and won the Grand Prix du roman de l’Académie française.

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.