Human Rites

Human Rites is a Belgian play by Amélie Nothomb, first published in 1994. It is set in an eastern city under siege and depicts a war between civilization and barbarians that is destroying everything.

The action takes place in a house where a university professor tries to survive the cold by burning his belongings. When he runs out of furniture and objects, he ends up having to burn his own books, a gesture that puts his relationship with learning and culture to the test.

The play has only three characters: Daniel, the professor's idealistic and dreamy assistant, who has lived with him for two months because of the war; Marina, his "soul mate," who is completing her university studies and suffers most from her low body weight, to the point of almost giving up her human condition; and the professor himself, impudent and insolent, who discredits the authors he later loves and forces others to read books he has never read. The play has been adapted for the stage and also performed as an opera.