The Housekeeper and the Professor
The Housekeeper and the Professor is a novel by Yōko Ogawa set in modern-day Japan. It was published in Japan in August 2003, by Shinchosha. In 2009, the English translation by Stephen Snyder was published.
Background
The story centers around a mathematician, "the Professor," who suffered brain damage in a traffic accident in 1975 and since then can produce only 80 minutes' worth of memories. His interactions with the housekeeper and her son "Root" deepens as the Professor shares the beauty of equations and mathematics with them. The novel's bibliography lists the book The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, a biography of the mathematician Paul Erdős. It has been said that Erdős was used as a model for the Professor.The novel received the Hon'ya Taisho award. Soon after, it was adapted into a film version in January 2006. After the paperback was published in December 2005, one million copies were sold in two months. This was faster than any other Shinchosha paperback.
Plot summary
The narrator's housekeeping agency dispatches her to the house of the Professor, a former mathematician who can remember new memories for only 80 minutes. She is more than a little frustrated to find that he loves only mathematics and shows no interest whatsoever in anything or anyone else. Despite his memory condition, the Professor keeps notes clipped to his suit to remind himself of important facts, including the name and relationship of the housekeeper. One day, upon learning that she has a 10-year-old son waiting home alone until late at night every day, the Professor flies into a rage and tells the narrator to have her son come to his home directly from school from that day on. The next day, her son comes and the Professor nicknames him "Root". The nickname comes from the shape of the boy’s flat head, which reminds the Professor of a square root symbol. From then on, their days begin to be filled with warmth. The three of them develop a daily rhythm grounded in the Professor’s passion for mathematics, solving problems and exploring number theory together. As Root and the narrator grow fond of the Professor, his condition becomes less of a barrier and more a part of their unique bond. The Professor's quiet dignity and brilliance gradually transform their lives, revealing the emotional depth of a man who, despite his cognitive limits, expresses profound humanity through math.Characters
;The Professor;The Narrator/Housekeeper
;Root
;The Widow/Sister-in-Law
Mathematical terminology that occurs in the story
- root
- imaginary number
- factorial
- amicable number
- prime number
- twin prime
- perfect number
- abundant number
- deficient number
- triangular number
- Ruth-Aaron pair
- Mersenne prime
- Napier's constant
- Euler's identity
- Fermat's Last Theorem
- Artin's conjecture
Critical reception
The novel was the inaugural winner of the Hon'ya Taishō Award. A review for the Japan Times wrote: "Ogawa gently unfolds an elegant, charming equation for success, leaving the reader to muse about loss, memory and the magic of mathematics."Dennis Overbye, writing for the New York Times, called it a "deceptively elegant" novel. Kirkus Reviews gave a positive review, writing the novel "deftly balances whimsy with heartache" and ultimately calling it a "simple story, well told". The New Yorker gave a mixed review, writing that although there were some touching scenes, the relationship between the housekeeper and the professor never built up to any great revelations.
Film
A film based on the novel was released on January 21, 2006. It was directed by Takashi Koizumi.In contrast to the original work, which is told from the perspective of the narrator, the film is shown from the perspective of 29-year-old "Root" as he recounts his memories of the Professor to a group of new pupils. Though there are a few differences between the film and the original work, the film is generally faithful to the original.