Can the name our family gives us affect our future? This question finds a thought-provoking reflection in Amélie Nothomb’s novella Winter Journey. The story has a simple premise: a man, frustrated by his unfulfilled love for a woman, decides to divert an airplane from its course and crash it into the Eiffel Tower. However, the true focus of the novella is on character development. The protagonist is depicted with full psychological complexity, and his inner world is carefully explored.
Almost all elements, events, and decisions in the story carry a sense of defamiliarization. Love, usually portrayed as constructive in familiar narratives, is represented here as destructive—capable of destroying not just the protagonist but also the passengers on the plane. Yet, because the story is told in the first person, readers understand that this destructive perspective is the protagonist’s own viewpoint. This invites us to examine the reasons behind his actions.
Early in the story, a minor narrative sheds light on the significance of his name:
“In an old encyclopedia, they found the name ‘Zwill’ and, ignoring its meaning—which condemned me to being a rare and special entity—they chose it for me. I memorized the six lines written about ‘Zwill’ in Robert’s dictionary of proper names: ‘Zwill, a Greek linguist and sophist from Amphipolis or Ephesus, around the 4th century, particularly famous for his heated, biased, and worthless critiques of Homer. He was nicknamed Homer’s Misfortune, and it is said that the title of his book, in which he tried to prove the absurdity of Homer’s marvels through logic, was the same.’”
This naming sets the stage for Zwill’s critical mindset and shapes his life choices. Like the Greek hero, Zwill is fated for a life of intellectual intensity and dramatic acts. His obsession with Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, which he re-translates at the age of fifteen, reflects a formative influence directly tied to his name.
Zwill’s encounter with Strolb, who has a writer named Éléonore as a housemate, marks another turning point. Zwill falls intensely in love with Strolb, but Éléonore stands in the way. His attempt to carve out a private space for intimacy fails, linking back to the significance of his name. Éléonore can be read as a Homeric figure, and Zwill’s narrative mirrors that of the Greek Zwill—critical, intense, and often destructive in his judgment of others, particularly Éléonore, whom he views with disdain despite her abilities and sense of responsibility.
The novella draws a parallel between Zwill and Achilles: a great figure consumed by pride and rage, whose actions are both heroic and catastrophic. Zwill’s plan to crash the plane into the Eiffel Tower—a romantic symbol—mirrors this Greek heroism, though in a distorted, almost absurdly tragic form. His “heroic” act is ultimately foolish, underscoring the novella’s ironic tone. Zwill’s love and rage are entwined, and his obsession with Éléonore motivates his extreme and destructive decision.
Yet, the story’s ending suggests that his plan fails—Paris still has the Eiffel Tower standing—reinforcing the novella’s satirical and critical lens on the protagonist’s delusions.
Through Winter Journey, Nothomb explores how a name can shape character, mindset, and destiny. Zwill’s psychological trajectory, influenced from birth by the weight of a historical and symbolic name, demonstrates the subtle ways family naming can echo through a person’s life, for better or worse.
The novella, translated into Persian by Banafshe Faris-Abadi and published by Cheshmeh, combines psychological depth, literary allusion, and dark humor to reflect on identity, love, and fate.