Antichrista

Antichrista is a novel by the Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb, first published in France in 2003 by Éditions Albin Michel and translated into English in 2005. The story centres on two female students: Blanche, a shy, inconspicuous and reclusive sixteen-year-old, and Christa, her opposite, a talented, brilliant and extremely popular girl from Malmedy, in eastern Belgium, who speaks German, laughs often and is very outgoing.

Blanche meets Christa at the University of Brussels and the two become friends, the first real friendship in Blanche's life. Soon, however, Blanche realises that Christa plays false and treats her with malice, and she gradually becomes her "headsman", the Antichrist. Blanche must overcome her trepidation and anxiety to get away from her and save her family from an "apocalypse".

The novel's time structure makes increasingly dramatic leaps: at first the action is told day by day, later week by week and, towards the end, in monthly intervals. Although none of the characters is a practising Christian, the book draws on Christian metaphors and symbols, such as the parable of the Prodigal Son, the Epiphany, the Kiss of Judas and the Crucifixion, which here lose their religious meaning and take on negative connotations.