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Mercure (novel)
''Mercure'' is a Belgian novel by Amélie Nothomb. It was first published in 1998. Plot The novel is set on the island of Mortes-Frontières, whose name (literally meaning "Dead Borders") is aptly chosen to reflect its ominous, isolated nature. Shrouded in secrecy and tightly controlled by the authoritarian Captain O. Loncours and his men, the island enforces strict surveillance and harsh treatment of outsiders. Françoise, a young nurse, is summoned to this strange place to care for Hazel, a young woman who has been monstrously disfigured by a bombing. Upon arrival, Françoise discovers a bizarre house where all reflective objects—mirrors, spoons, anything capable of showing a reflection—have been removed. The inhabitants of the island are suspicious and unwelcoming, and newcomers are subjected to thorough and merciless searches. Once inside the house, Françoise learns that she must tend to Hazel without ever asking a single question, under penalty of death. This strict ru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amélie Nothomb
Baroness Fabienne Claire Nothomb (; born 13 August 1967''État présent de la noblesse belge'', éditions of 1979, 1995 and 2010. Her birth is announced in n° 87, aout 1967, p. 340 of the ''Bulletin de l'association de la noblesse du royaume de Belgique'', publication trimestrielle : Annonces de naissance : "''Baron et Baronne Patrick Nothomb : Fabienne, 13 août 1967''".), better known by her pen name Amélie Nothomb (), is a Belgian Francophone novelist. Part of her childhood was spent in Asia. A prolific author, since the publication of her first novel '' Hygiene and the Assassin'' in 1992, at the age of twenty-six, she has published a book a year. Her novels are among the top literary sales and have been translated into several languages. She is a Commander of the Order of the Crown and has had the title of Baroness bestowed upon her by King Philippe of Belgium. Her satirical novel about corporate life in Japan '' Fear and Trembling'' won the Grand Prix du roman de l'Acadé ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Enemy's Cosmetique
''The Enemy's Cosmetique'' () is the tenth novel written by Belgian author Amélie Nothomb. It was also the tenth book published by Albin Michel. It was first published in 2001. Plot summary ''"Without wanting to, I have committed the perfect crime: nobody saw me coming, except for the victim. The proof, I am still free."'' The whole story takes place at an airport. Jérôme Angust, a man on a business trip, waits for a delayed flight. He meets another man, who introduces himself as Textor Texel from Holland. At first Angust is annoyed by Texel, who insists on talking to him, despite cues that Angust is not interested in being engaged. He wonders why Texel insists on talking to him. Texel explains that he simply wants to, and he always does exactly what he wants. Eventually Angust becomes drawn into the conversation. Texel begins telling a story about his childhood, in which he believes he "murdered" one of his elementary-school classmates. Texel explains that as a child he had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hygiene And The Assassin
''Hygiene and the Assassin'' (, lit. "The Assassin's Hygiene") is the first novel by the Belgian novelist Amélie Nothomb. It was published in 1992 by Albin Michel. The novel is written almost entirely in dialogue. Plot The famous novelist Prétextat Tach is stricken by "Elzenveiverplatz syndrome" (an imaginary syndrome invented by the author), a cancer of the cartilage, and has only two more months to live. Almost immediately, many journalists rush to interview Tach for a scoop. However, after the first few interviews, the reader realizes that Tach is an obese and obnoxious misanthrope of the worst kind: acerbic, intolerant, a provocateur and a misogynist, who cannot tolerate any questions about his private life and has the audacity to turn the interviews into a cesspool of disgust for his interviewers. Thus, all the interviews fall short, until Nina, a relatively unknown journalist becomes the latest victim of the novelist. Unlike all the other journalists before, however, this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
L'Express
(, stylized in all caps) is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre-right in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. Founded in 1953 by Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber and Françoise Giroud, ''L'Express'' would be considered France's first American-style news weekly. ''L'Express'' is one of the three major French news weeklies alongside '' Le Nouvel Obs'' and '' Le Point''. History and profile was co-founded in 1953 by Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, future president of the Radical Party, and Françoise Giroud, who had earlier edited '' Elle'' and went on to become France's first minister of women's affairs in 1974 and minister of culture in 1976. ''L'Express'' first issue was released on Saturday 16 May 1953, at the corner of the end of the Indochina War and the Algerian War which was about to break out. It was founded as a weekly supplem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Complete Review
''Complete Review'' (stylized ''complete review'') is a literary website founded in March 1999. It is best known for reviews of novels in English translation, in particular drawing attention to otherwise neglected contemporary works from around the world, but there are also reviews of classics, non-fiction, drama and poetry. As of March 2009, on its tenth anniversary, there were a total of 2251 works under review, averaging over 250 new reviews added per year. A blog, ''Literary Saloon'', was added in August 2002. As of its 10th anniversary in 2009, 95 percent of the reviews were written by the site's founder and managing editor, Michael Orthofer (b. 1964, Austria). From the beginning, it was Orthofer's intention to create an institutionalized persona for the site, and he therefore did not sign his name or even have it anywhere easily visible. However, beginning in 2009 Orthofer, recognizing that he was the majority contributor, announced "posts and reviews will now be signed 'M.A. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury (; ) is a major god in Roman religion and mythology, being one of the 12 Dii Consentes within the ancient Roman pantheon. He is the god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence, messages, communication (including divination), travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery, and thieves; he also serves as the guide of souls to the underworld and the "messenger of the gods". In Roman mythology, he was the son of Maia, one of the seven daughters of the Titan Atlas, and Jupiter. In his earliest forms, he appears to have been related to the Etruscan deity Turms; both gods share characteristics with the Greek god Hermes. He is often depicted holding the caduceus in his left hand. Similar to his Greek equivalent Hermes, he was awarded a magic wand by Apollo, which later turned into the caduceus, the staff with intertwined snakes. Etymology The name "Mercury" is possibly related to the Latin words '' merx'' ("merchandise"; cf. ''merchant'', ''commerce'', etc.), ' (''to tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beauty And The Beast
"Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and published by French novelist Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756 in ''Magasin des enfants'' (''Children's Collection'') to produce the most commonly retold version. Later, Andrew Lang retold the story in ''Andrew Lang's Fairy Books#The Blue Fairy Book (1889), Blue Fairy Book'', a part of the ''Fairy Book'' series, in 1889. The fairy-tale was influenced by the story of Petrus Gonsalvus as well as Ancient Greece, Ancient Latin stories such as "Cupid and Psyche" from ''The Golden Ass'', written by Apuleius, Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis in the second century AD, and "The Pig King", an Italian fairy-tale published by Giovanni Francesco Straparola in ''The Facetious Nights of Straparola'' around 1550. Variants of the tale are known across Europe.H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cinderella
"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a young girl living in forsaken circumstances who is suddenly blessed by remarkable fortune, with her ascension to the throne via marriage. The story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo sometime between 7 BC and AD 23, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, is usually considered to be the earliest known variant of the Cinderella story. The first literary European version of the story was published in Italy by Giambattista Basile in his ''Pentamerone'' in 1634. The version that is now most widely known in the English-speaking world was published in French by Charles Perrault in ''Histoires ou contes du temps passé'' (translation: "Histories or tales of times passed") in 1697 as ''Cendrillon'' and was anglicize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sleeping Beauty
"Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fiction, sleep for a hundred years before being awakened by a handsome prince. A good fairy, knowing the princess would be frightened if alone when she wakes, uses her wand to put every living person and animal in the palace and forest asleep, to awaken when the princess does. The earliest known version of the tale is found in the French language, French narrative ''Perceforest'', written between 1330 and 1344. Another was the Catalan language, Catalan poem ''Frayre de Joy e Sor de Paser''. Giambattista Basile wrote another, "Sun, Moon, and Talia" for his collection ''Pentamerone'', published posthumously in 1634–36 and adapted by Charles Perrault in ''Histoires ou contes du temps passé'' in 1697. The version collected and printed by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1998 Belgian Novels
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon's poles. * January 11 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria. * January 12 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning. * January 17 – The ''Drudge Report'' breaks the story about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky, which will lead to the House of Representatives' impeachment of him. February * February 3 – Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying EA-6B Prowler severs the cable of a cable-car. * February 4 – The 5.9 Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (''Very strong''). With up to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novels By Amélie Nothomb
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning 'new'. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, Medieval Chivalric romance, and the tradition of the Italian Renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, in the historical romances of Walter Scott and the Gothic novel. Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, and John Cowper Powys, preferred the term ''romance''. Such romances should not be confused with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
