On parle mythologie avec Amélie Nothomb ! - La Divine Comédie d'Amélie Nothomb

Amélie Nothomb is a Belgian novelist who has published approximately one novel per year for nearly 20 years. She has been a member since 2015 of the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium, and her works appear in school curricula in Belgium, France, and Quebec.

• Mythology has been a lifelong passion for Amélie, nurtured by a childhood spent in various countries. • She views mythology as the best introduction to a culture and as fertile ground for a novelist. • Myths are accessible to children while possessing depth that offers meaningful discoveries at every age.

Audible produced her first audio documentary in 11 episodes called 'The Divine Comedy of Amélie Nothomb', inspired by Dante's Commedia, traveling through Greek and Norse mythology and biblical culture.

• Amélie has worked with director Laureline Amanieux for over 20 years, who had already made a documentary about her in 2012. • They have also co-written two books together in the past. • This collaboration rests on absolute trust and intimacy that resonates throughout the audio.

The project follows an initiatory journey beginning with tales of the underworld, allowing exploration of the ties between gods and mortals, then progressing toward biblical culture and visions of paradise.

• Dante descends to hell before rising toward paradise. • Jesus also descends for three days before resurrecting and ascending to paradise. • This shared structure inspired the documentary's narrative journey.

Amélie and Laureline reinterpret the Divine Comedy in contemporary fashion, where Amélie metaphorically encounters deceased and living artists across centuries, from Rodin to 17th-century composers.

Rather than retelling already-known myths, the project revisits them through artworks, literature, sculpture, and especially music, from an artistic and literary angle.

The audio documentary format is a middle ground between literature and cinema, creating unique evocation where listeners imagine content without visual imposition.

• Use of 360-degree binaural microphone allowing listeners to sense their position in space. • Recording maximum real sounds on location to immerse the listener. • Collaboration with sound designers Virgile Van Ginkel and Ciments Calcia for sound creation.

The project fuses documentary reality with the fantastical world of myths, transforming real spaces into gateways to imagination through the magic of sound and musical composition.

The absence of images was completely liberating for Amélie, allowing her to feel at ease and take time describing what she saw and sensations to guide the listener.

• Amélie places music far above literature. • She believes that hell is sonic and that metal is its emblematic music. • Music is essential not only for journeying to hell but also for escaping it.

The journey from hell to paradise is a musical path where one first discovers infernal metal, then progressively other musics leading to angelic music, described as ecstatic and luminous.

• Creation of an original musical composition of classical inspiration guiding listeners from one theme to another. • References to musical excerpts linked to myths, such as Lili Boulanger for sirens and Debussy on the harp. • Encounters with artists performing pieces live in connection with the myths.

Amélie repeatedly states throughout the documentary that music can save us from moments of despair, culminating with Beethoven's Hymn to Joy, which invites us to choose joy.

• Amélie learns to play the harp with artists she encounters. • The harp is a mythological instrument present in Greek and Norse mythologies. • Visit to Camac space described as a forest of harps.

Encounter with a musician playing the nyckelharpa, an ancient instrument of Nordic civilizations, described as terribly complex and magnificent, the musician herself being a work of art.

• Rodin Museum and its Gates of Hell in June, with exclusive access before opening. • Gaveau Hall for encounters with choirs performing Orpheus' descent to the underworld. • Studios for meetings with specialists and musician artists.

Audio descriptions inspire listeners to visually search for the artworks and instruments mentioned, creating a bridge between audio and visual.

• Rigorous documentary research on the various chosen myths. • Recruitment of academics capable of establishing historical context and symbolic dimension. • Subjective choices based on specialists' visions and approaches.

Pierre Brice Taton, lecturer at the Sorbonne specializing in Nordic civilizations, teaches Old Norse, the ancient Icelandic language in which the myths were originally written.

Manuel Granolas, Dante specialist, brings a vision of paradise highlighting paradoxes, showing that in paradise there is nostalgia and lacks, not only happiness.

Working back-and-forth between Amélie and specialists, with freedom to improvise during live recordings, allowing the introduction of surprising elements like reading from Giono's Odyssey.

Amélie finds Norse mythology fascinating, a blend of grand barbarity, complexity and subtlety, where nothing is fixed and good and evil are not absolute categories.

• The Nordic notion of fate is supreme power, far more so than among Greeks and Romans. • Nordic wisdom invites learning even from evil, accepting ambiguities. • Nordic mythological figures embody these complex values.

Scandinavians, once Christianized, preserved the raven as a sacred bird despite its condemnation in Christian mythology, creating religious syncretism rather than outright rejection.

Amélie and Laureline draw on Joseph Campbell and the monomyth, finding a universal structure of the hero's journey across all cultures and mythological traditions.

• Japan invented mythological tolerance, successively accepting Taoism, Zen, and Catholicism. • The Japanese managed to remain Shinto while adopting these new beliefs. • The Portuguese imposition of exclusive choice created a rejection of Catholicism in the West.

• All mythologies have something to teach us and are equally valid. • We should practice all mythologies rather than choose just one. • The gods do not need us to choose between them.

There is permeability between ancient origins and biblical culture, particularly visible in texts of the Edda, where some scholars see inspiration from biblical Apocalypse.

Mythological imperialism is deplorable when one mythology tries to supplant another. The project seeks rather the base myths free from imposed religious distortion.

• Snorri's Edda is a 13th-century text already Christianized. • Some scholars believe Snorri was inspired by the Apocalypse when writing Ragnarök. • The true myths may have been distorted by Christian writings.

• Pierre Brice Taton presents different sources, the Poetic Edda older than Snorri's. • Archaeological sources allow a clearer understanding of original Norse cosmogony. • Cross-referencing sources to approach mythological truth.

The documentary transitions from Norse mythology to biblical culture while emphasizing this historical and textual permeability between the two traditions.

Rather than choosing between mythologies, the project shows how they nourish each other and dialogue throughout history and cultures.

Amélie and Laureline do not position themselves as great mythologists selling their knowledge, but as discovering myths together with the listener.

• First free episode on Audible enabling accessible discovery. • Pedagogical approach making specialized subjects accessible to all. • Simultaneous learning with the listener rather than teaching by instruction.

• 360-degree binaural microphone creating an immersive and sensory experience. • Amélie's singular and touching perspective translating myths in unexpected ways. • Sensation of being alongside the narrator rather than passive listening.

Decision to create a sequel to the documentary with Audible to explore other mythologies, confirming the success of this collaborative and accessible approach.