Amélie Nothomb - Tant Mieux

Childhood, darkness, kindness: a daughter's intimate confession about her maternal heritage. Amélie Nothomb presents her book "Tant Mieux" (Tant Mieux) published by Albin Michel. Interview with Sylvie Hazebroucq. Find the book: https://www.mollat.com/livres/3345090... In "Tant Mieux," Amélie Nothomb explores for the first time her maternal lineage, long kept secret and considered "unsortable" in Belgium compared to her paternal aristocratic and diplomatic line. The book, written after her mother's death and conceived as an act of justice to give her her own book, is a dive into a complex family history, woven with female suffering and transgenerational hatred. The author explains the use of a pseudonym for her mother and other characters, not for protection, but to preserve the secret of her unsavory maternal family (politically dubious ancestors, cruel grandmother). She reveals that this side of her family is marked by a "female hatred" passed down from mother to daughter, a curse her own mother broke by loving her children. The writer emphasizes the miraculous "goodness" and "simplicity" of her mother, free from guilt and capable of loving "sick" parents despite their abuse (her own mother, the author's grandmother, never stopped belittling her). This maternal kindness is presented as a counterpoint to the author's own difficulties, who had to make an effort to achieve "kindness" because she is not naturally inclined to it, unlike her mother, who was "good." The interview also addresses the psychological and autobiographical dimensions of the work. Amélie Nothomb admits to having written the book without making the connection between the food torture her mother suffered as a child (forced to eat her vomit) and her own subsequent anorexic disorders. It was her readers who revealed to her this continuity of a story "that possesses you." Finally, the author returns to her relationship with the "darkness" that has inhabited her since childhood. She explains that her mother, with her simple injunction "You have no right" (to give in to the darkness), saved her and taught her to live with this darkness, without seeking to erase it. This book is an "I love you" to this mother who loved her "with her body" and from whom she inherited, along with her father, a saving sense of humor. The author concludes that the limit of her own freedom lies in the love she feels for her loved ones. 0:00 - The Word "Mom": The Ban and the Passage to Adulthood 1:23 - Protecting the Maternal Family: Scandal, Questionable Politics, and Female Hatred 5:12 - Conversations with the Dead: Maternal Silence and Unconditional Love Despite Everything 7:08 - The Curse Broken: My Mother Loved Her Daughters 7:37 - Maternal Kindness and Absence of Guilt: Loving Beyond Judgment 12:25 - Writing About One's Mother's Death: Concern for Justice and the Book of Grief 14:26 - Loyalty to One's Parents: Two Exceptions in Their Families 17:28 - The Inheritance of History: Writing Codes and Eating Issues 20:07 - Darkness and Peace: From Hieronymus Bosch's Hell to Acceptance 23:36 - The Power of Words and Maternal Seduction 30:40 - The Legacy of Maternal Immorality and Freedom Through Love 34:01 - Making a Successful Death: The Fear of My Mother's Death and My Own Anticipation Music notes: © Mollat Subtitles automatically generated in French by YouTube. Visit the website: http://www.mollat.com/ Follow the Mollat ​​bookstore on social media: Instagram:   / librairie_mollat   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Librairie.mo... Twitter:   / librairiemollat   Linkedin:   / votre-libraire-mollat   Pinterest:   / librairiemollat   Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/mollat WhatsApp: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029...