Fear and Trembling (novel)
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| Author | Amélie Nothomb |
|---|---|
| Original title | Stupeur et tremblements |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Genre | Novel |
Publication date | 1999 |
| Pages | 174 |
| ISBN | 2-226-10950-1 |
Fear and Trembling (original title: Stupeur et tremblements, which means "Amazement and trembling") is a novel by Amélie Nothomb, first published in 1999, and translated into English by Adriana Hunter. It was awarded the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française that year.
Plot
Amélie, a young Belgian woman who spent the first five years of her life in Japan, signs a one-year contract as a translator at the prestigious company Yumimoto. Beginning at the bottom of the corporate ladder, Amélie manages to descend even lower.
At her arrival to the Yumimoto company she is puzzled as she is apparently not assigned any actual work to do, so she first kills the boredom by memorising the company's list of employees and then she decides she could deliver company's mail, only to find herself later scolded for taking initiative and "stealing someone else's job".
Later her departmental manager asks her to copy a thick pile of documents, which, as she later realises, are the rules of his golf club. When she accomplishes the work, the manager returns it to her saying the copies are off-centered and asks her to re-do the job not using the feeder.
Copying the pages one by one, Amélie is approached by Mr. Tenshi, the manager of the Dairy Products Department, who wants to use her knowledge and asks her to draft a report about the new method of manufacturing reduced-fat butter developed in Belgium.
Next morning, when the manually-done copies are rejected by the manager again even without looking, she does the third batch of copies using the feeder and sets out writing the report for Mr. Tenshi. She researches the Japanese market, contacts the company in Belgium and obtains documentation from them, and continues writing the report overnight at home.
The report turns out to be a big success, but she asks Mr. Tenshi not to reveal who the real author is. Her transferring to Mr. Tenshi's department is imminent as Mr. Tenshi plans to present the report to the company's president.
However, Amélie's line manager Miss Fubuki Mori feels offended as this constitutes a violation of the company's hierarchy and exposes everything to the vice-president, who scolds severely Mr. Tenshi and Amélie, and sees to it that Amélie is not writing any more reports but strictly sticks to doing duties assigned by Miss Mori.
Although advised by Mr. Tenshi not to do so, Amélie decides to confront Fubuki and talk to her personally. This encounter can be seen as the main breakpoint of the novel, as both characters feel the other should apologise but at the same time each of them fails to recognise why she should apologise herself.
The main difference is that while Amélie feels her progress in her career from useless work to the place where she actually can use her skills has been hindered for no other reason than maliciousness, Fubuki feels Amélie's move being against her as she was trying to overpass her thus violating the subordination. Fubuki had to suffer and work hard for years to achieve her position and it was inconceivable to her to imagine that Amélie would achieve the same level of hierarchy within only a couple of weeks.
From that point on, the relationship between them turns from a fairly good one (which, though, only Amélie would describe as 'friendship') to animosity, although still accompanied by respect and admiration from Amélie's side, which Fubuki either fails to notice or choses to ignore.
Amélie proves herself useless at the tasks she is subsequently asked to do at the Accounts Department, as she apparently suffers from dyscalculia to some extent, while Fubuki thinks Amélie is doing mistakes on purpose to sabotage the company and the manager herself.
Another dialogue reveals the differences between the different concepts of responsibility in Japanese and Western cultures. While for Fubuki the manager is directly responsible for the mistakes of their staff (you made the mistakes deliberately only to expose me to the public ridicule), Amélie thinks everybody is responsible for their own mistakes (I ridiculed only myself, not you).
The biggest mistake however Amélie does after Fubuki is being severely abused by the vice-president in front of all the department. When Fubuki, not having shown tears to her colleagues, goes to the bathroom to let her feelings out in private, Amélie follows her to console her. While from Amélie's point of view Fubuki is not in a shameful position and offering a consolation like that is only a good-hearted gesture, Fubuki feels utterly ashamed to be seen showing her feelings and mis-understand Amélie's following her as vengefulness and hostility.
The next day Amélie is assigned the job of a bathroom cleaner by Fubuki. Six more months of her one-year contract to go, Amélie decides to endure until the end, which might be shameful from the Western point of view, but actually means not losing her face from the Japanese point of view.
After her contract finishes in January 1991, she returns to Belgium and starts publishing: her first novel Hygiène de l'assassin appearing in 1992, she receives a brief congratulations note from Fubuki in 1993.
Explanation of title
According to the novel, in Japan, protocol states that in the presence of the Emperor, who until 1947 had been considered a living god, a person must demonstrate his or her reverence with fear and trembling, though most Japanese citizens today are unaware of this injunction.
Adaptation
- Fear and Trembling, a film by Alain Corneau, released in 2003.
Publication details
- Stupeur et tremblements, Éditions Albin Michel, 1999. ISBN 2-226-10950-1
- Stupeur et tremblements, Livre de Poche, 2001. ISBN 2-253-15071-1