63 pages • 2 hours read
The Housekeeper and the Professor
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
The Housekeeper and the Professor, written by Yōko Ogawa, is a work of literary fiction set in modern-day Japan and loosely based on the book The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, a biography of the mathematician Paul Erdös. The Housekeeper and the Professor was originally published in Japanese in 2003; it sold more than one million copies and received the Hon’ya Taisho award in 2004. In 2006, it was adapted into a film version, titled The Professor’s Beloved Equation (the literal translation of the original Japanese title). The English translation by Stephen Snyder was published in 2009.
Plot Summary
In March 1992, the unnamed narrator of the novel is assigned by her housekeeping agency, Akebono, to work for a new client, a former professor of mathematics. The Professor has already gone through a large number of housekeepers, and she expects the assignment to be a difficult one. When she meets with the Professor’s widowed sister-in-law and benefactor, she discovers the reason why: The Professor was in a bad car accident in 1975, and as a result, is unable to remember anything from more than 80 minutes prior. The sister-in-law also explains that because the Professor has his own cottage on the property with its own entrance, Unlock all 63 pages of this Study Guide Plus, gain access to 8,900+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
