Fear and Trembling

Fear and Trembling (original title: Stupeur et tremblements, which means "Stupefaction and trembling") is a fictional, satirical novel by Amélie Nothomb, first published in 1999, and translated into English by Adriana Hunter in 2001. It was awarded the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française that year. It was adapted into the film Fear and Trembling in 2003. Plot Amélie, a young Belgian woman who spent the first five years of her life in Japan, returns to Japan as a young adult, signing a one-year contract as a translator at the prestigious company Yumimoto. Through a series of comical cultural misunderstandings, Amélie, who begins at the bottom of the corporate ladder, manages to descend even lower. During her time at Yumimoto, she is the direct subordinate of Fubuki Mori, whose friendly demeanor quickly disappears when Amélie unwittingly oversteps herself. Bored and frustrated with how she is apparently not assigned to do anything productive, Amélie tries to take the initiative by memorizing the company's list of employees and delivering the mail, only to be reprimanded for "stealing someone else's job." When she is assigned to photocopy the departmental manager's documents, which she discovers are the rules to his golf club, Amelie is forced to redo her work when the manager returns it with the complaint that the copies are off-centre and that she must not use the feeder for the copier. While she is redoing the task, the kindly Mr. Tenshi takes notice of her and asks for her help in drafting a report about the new method of manufacturing reduced-fat butter developed in Belgium. Amélie's contributions to Mr. Tenshi's report make it a big success and she requests not to be given credit. Though it seems her transfer to Mr. Tenshi's department is imminent, Fubuki feels offended as this constitutes a violation of the company's hierarchy and she exposes everything to the vice-president, who severely scolds Mr. Tenshi and Amélie, and sees to it that Amélie writes no more reports and strictly sticks to doing duties assigned by Ms. Mori. Although advised by Mr. Tenshi not to do so, Amélie decides to confront Ms. Mori and talk to her personally. This encounter can be seen as the main juncture of the novel, as both characters feel the other should apologise, but at the same time each of them fails to recognise why she herself should do the same.