How far can a society sink into a collective pit of stupidity, sadism, brutality and barbarism? Tune into Belgian novelist Amélie Nothomb's Sulphuric Acid and see for yourself.
In the parks and on the street of Paris, hundreds of women, men and children are grabbed by the organizers and taken to a station to be piled into a cattle-truck. A stunningly attractive young paleontologist by the name of Pannonique, who just so happened to be out for a walk in the Jardin des Plantes, is among their number. Pannonique understands screaming objections would be pointless since she can see the entire process is being filmed by cameras.
Meanwhile, the organizers require another group fill out a questionnaire to make sure they are capable of bullying and beating strangers even when those unfortunate innocents moan, cry or plea for help. Twenty-year-old Zdena, who never passed an exam in her life but passes this one with flying colors, tells the organizers their program is brilliant. She's immediately given the post of kepo and told she will be called Kepo Zdena. Fantastic! Henceforth, she can tell everyone she works in television.
The new program called Concentration makes the headlines, big time. The very first broadcast sets a ratings record and the viewing public can't get enough of live coverage of unspeakable horrors.
So there you have it, the greatest boob tube hit ever, a combination Nazi concentration camp and Survivor-style reality TV show. Sound ludicrous? Can Amélie Nothomb be serious in writing such a tale? You bet she can – and by this reviewer's judgement, Sulphuric Acid is an obsidian literary jewel in miniature.
How to categorize such a work? Black humor doesn’t really fit here since there is no more humor than in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness or William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Not a laugh line in sight. Black would be a good choice if we think in terms of bleak, grim, macabre, shocking, appalling, repugnant and sickening. Yet this brief novel has, as difficult as it might be to conceive, something of the chic and almost stylish. Thus, in many ways, Amélie Nothomb has created a story that's one of a kind.
I hesitate to suggest this is a book to be read in one sitting. More preferable to take a break after each part (the novel is divided into five parts) to let what you’ve just read sink in. And, I can assure you, there’s a good bit of action and character interaction to absorb.
This was my first Amélie Nothomb and it became immediately apparent the Belgium author possesses a natural flair for storytelling. And Ms. Northomb has had a plethora of practice – ever since the publication of Hygiene and the Assassin back when she was age twenty-six, Amélie has penned a novel every year - and her books, written in French, are generally best sellers in France.
Sulphuric Acid follows Pannonique in her plight as CKZ 114 (similar to all the other prisoners, a number was tattooed into her skin - henceforth, her sole form of identity). She instantly became the main attraction for all prisoners, kapos and, most importantly, for the TV audience. "The newspapers devoted articles to this admirable young woman, the epitome of beauty and class, whose voice no one had ever heard. Encomia were devoted to the noble intelligence of her expression. Her photograph was displayed on the covers of several magazines."
For Kapo Zdena, CKZ 114 was not only an attraction, the dazzling, graceful young lady became her obsession. Kapo Zdena took every possible opportunity to order her to work harder (from dawn to dusk, the main task for prisoner was to dig a tunnel), to hurl insults and beat her unmercifully with her billy club. The organizers made sure the cameras didn't miss a blow. And Kapo Zdena's savage wrath inspired the others - "At flogging time, she took turns with other kaops. There was no shortage of brutes willing to vent their fury on the frail body of CKZ 114." Meanwhile, with every round of beatings, the TV audience swelled beyond the organizers' every expectation.
We as readers might ask: How much can punishment can one delicate female take? After all, CKZ 114 was losing weight. Turns out, in this near future society, a human loss can translate into a media gain: "Being the public's muse didn't shield her from death: the organizers were already rubbing their hands at the idea of the telegenic nature of her death-throes being broadcast by five cameras."
I don't think I'm giving too much away by noting the relationship between CKZ 114 and Kapo Zdena shifts when the kapo becomes keenly aware and ashamed of her own utter worthlessness as a human being. Kapo Zdena starts to use a fake billy club and slips CKZ 114 chocolates.
Alas, Sulphuric Acid also tracks the fate of other prisoners. There's PFX 150, a cute twelve-year old girl, EPJ 327, a handsome twenty-something former teacher who falls in love with Pannonique (in this concentration camp men and women live together), MDA 802, another young woman who befriends Pannonique, and an old woman howling at the moon at night, an oldster upsetting the sparse moral of her fellow prisoners. "Pannonique was dying of hatred for this woman, and dreaming of her demise. However much she might try and reason, tell herself that it was not ZHF 911 who had set up Concentration, she felt her fingernails turning into talons as soon as she saw her. And when she heard the pest bellowing at night, she longed to strangle her with her own bare hands."
Even this level of brutality and dehumanization fails to keep up the TV ratings forever. An added element of excitement is desperately needed. There is a meeting of the higher-ups. It's one of those aha moments when a member comes up with the perfect answer: audience participation. Yes, of course - get all those passive TV viewers to become active participants in the phenomenon that is Concentration.
To find out the results of this new infusion of energy, I urge you to pick up a copy of Sulphuric Acid and read for yourself. One unforgettable, powerful experience. And, of course, many are the implicit philosophical questions about human nature and the nature of society posed on nearly every page.
Amélie Nothomb, born 1966
"Any human being who experiences a lasting or a passing hell can, in order to confront it, resort to the most gratifying mental technique in existence: he can tell himself a story. The exploited worker invents himself as a prisoner-of-war, the prisoner -of-war imagines himself a Grail hunter, and so on. Every form of wretchedness has its own emblem and its own heroism. The poor wretch who can inflate his chest with a breath of greatness holds his head up high and ceases to complain." -- Amélie Nothomb, Sulphuric Acid
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