Quand la littérature sert de manuel de communication interculturelle: le cas de Ni d’Ève ni d’Adam d’Amélie Nothomb

Abstract

In this article, the way intercultural communication is conceived of in literature is examined through
the example of Amélie Nothomb’s Tokyo Fiancée (2007). The novel, a follow-up to Fear and Trembling (1999),
which was set in Japan, deals with a romance the main character had with a young Japanese man. I am
interested in how Nothomb presents and creates Japan and the Japanese in the story through analyzing her
references to culture and identity. In the first section of the paper, a review of intercultural approaches is
proposed in order to position the analysis in the “sea of intercultural research”. Opting for a subjectivist and
critical approach to interculturality, I show how Nothomb often resorts to culture as an alibi to explain the
Other and the Self, how she puts herself and others into scene, how she deals with Japanese exceptions and puts
forward a hint of resemblances between the self and the other. The conclusion attempts some answers at the
question: what role should literature play in terms of intercultural awareness?