The Fairy Tale and the Works of Améile Nothomb

Abstract

A man who photographs dead women, another who has trapped a woman on an island without mirrors, and the chance encounter between a hideous ornithologist and jewelry model; these are the subjects of the novels studied in this thesis. Written by Belgian author Amélie Nothomb, these novels (Barbe bleue, Mercure, and Riquet à la houppe), even though they are quite distinct from one another, have one common thread that runs through them: the fairy tale. Nothomb does not just rewrite the plots of fairy tales; she shows how objects affect the narrative of a tale. Through jewels, mirrors, eyeballs, and photographs, Nothomb crafts unique, sometimes hybrid fairy tales that demonstrate how the physical things that fill a story can be sites of female empowerment and community. This thesis, through a combination of literary and material cultural approaches, studies the objects that appear in Nothomb's novels and unravels their function in her narratives.