Le mystère par exellence

The mystery the title names is a freely chosen life of deprivation — not poverty, not illness, but a deliberate and apparently contented rejection of pleasure. Manuel, who can explain everything else, cannot explain Jacques. The phrase 'par excellence' signals this is not one mystery among many but the one that defeats all intellectual tools.

Approximately thirty-nine pages. It was published in 1999 as part of a club edition and has limited general availability. It is considered one of the rarest of Nothomb's works to find in print.

Published in 1999 by Albin Michel as a limited club edition. It predates most of Nothomb's widely distributed novels in availability terms, though not in publication year.

No — it is a standalone novella. It shares Nothomb's characteristic interests (intelligence, friendship, extreme philosophical positions) but has no narrative connection to her other works.

Probably not as a starting point — its extreme brevity and limited availability make it better suited to readers who already know her work and want to read comprehensively. Stupeur et tremblements, Hygiène de l'assassin, or Métaphysique des tubes are better entry points.