“Thirst” by Amélie Nothomb makes Christ narrate the passion with humor and humanity – Life

A multi-award winning author and considered by critics to be one of the leading writers in the French language today, Amélie Nothomb confessed that “Sede”, her 28th published novel, is the book of her life.

In this book, edited by Guerra e Paz with the support of the Institut Français, the figure of Jesus Christ is given a human voice, and it is he himself who narrates, in a long and ironic monologue, his passion, assuming the fear of death and reflecting on those who consider the three pillars of humanity: to love, to die and to be thirsty.

The arrival of this book in Portugal coincides with the date on which its theatrical adaptation, by Catherine D’At, premieres at the Théâtre du Rond-Point, in Paris, where it will be on stage until the 26th of March.

The director, who lives in Lisbon, intends to bring this piece to Portugal very soon, designed and tested in an artistic residency at the Malaposta Cultural Center, in Odivelas.

With incisive humor, Amélie Nothomb retraces the last hours of Jesus Christ’s life, giving him the role of narrator, and takes the reader through his journey to the cross, starting with the statement that opens the book: “I always knew they would condemn me to death. death”.

History accompanies the ordeal of Christ and the miracles of which he is “accused”, because all those who were the target of his miracles are now witnesses for the prosecution, complaining about the side effects.

The first miraculous ones are the bride and groom of Cana, outraged that Christ, having the power to turn water into wine, had waited for the end of the wedding to exercise his gift.

“He took pleasure in seeing our anguish and humiliation, though he managed to spare us both so easily. Because of him, we serve the best wine after the zurrapa. We were the target of the laughter of the village”.

But there is also the ancient blind man, who complains about the ugliness of the world, the former leper, who complains that no one else gives him alms, the fishermen’s union of Tiberias, who accuses Jesus of favoring one of the crews, Lazarus, who tells how it’s hideous to live with the smell of a corpse stuck to your skin.

The sentence was dictated by Pilates, “the genius of Latin” who “never commits pleonasms”, when he stated “defendant, you will be crucified”, an “economy of language” that Christ appreciated, as he would have hated him to have said “crucified to death” , since there is no other possible outcome.

While waiting alone in the cell for the next day, Jesus still reflects on the crucifixion, death and resurrection, talks with his father, remembers the apostles, the traitor Judas – that kind of “friend that others do not understand why he is ours”. friend” – and Mary Magdalene.

“But what kind of Christ is this who unburdens himself with us in a lyrical and philosophical tone, but also with a redemptive humour? A poet, a revolutionary, a prophet, or a lonely and common man who, like everyone else, is thirsty?”, asks the editor, leaving it up to the reader to interpret this text as a sacrilege, a blasphemy or a reconciliation with the faith.

Winner of the Prix Chardonne, the Grand Prix du Roman of the French Academy, the Prix de Flore and the Grand Prix Jean Giono, Amélie Nothomb has Belgian roots, was born in Japan and lives in France.

Translated into more than 45 languages, “Sede” has been translated into Portuguese by Isabel Ferreira da Silva.

In Portugal, Amélie Nothomb has already published some novels, namely “Temor e Tremor”, “Metaphysics of Tubes”, “The Cosmetics of the Enemy”, “Dictionary of Proper Names” and “Sulfuric Acid”.