The Housekeeper and the Professor (博士の愛した数式, hakase no ai shita suushiki?) (literally "The Professor's Beloved Equation") is a novel by Yoko Ogawa set in modern-day Japan. It was published in August, 2003, by Shinchosha and was the first recipient of the Hon'ya Taisho award.
The story centers around a mathematician, "the Professor," who suffered brain damage in a traffic accident in 1975 and since then can produce only 80 minutes' worth of memories, and his interactions with a housekeeper (the narrator) and her son "Root" as the Professor shares the beauty of equations with them.
The novel received the Hon'ya Taisho award, was adapted into a film version in January 2006, and after being published in paperback in December, 2005, sold one million copies in two months, faster than any other Shinchosha paperback.
The novel's bibliography lists the book The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, a biography of the mathematician Paul Erdős. It has been said that Erdős was used as a model for the Professor'.
In 2009, the English translation by Stephen Snyder The Housekeeper and the Professor, was published.
Read more about The Housekeeper And The Professor: Plot Summary, Characters, Mathematical Terminology Which Occurs in The Story, Film
Famous quotes containing the words housekeeper and/or professor:
“Marriage is a bribe to make a housekeeper think she’s a householder.”
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)
“This unlettered man’s speaking and writing are standard English. Some words and phrases deemed vulgarisms and Americanisms before, he has made standard American; such as “It will pay.” It suggests that the one great rule of composition—and if I were a professor of rhetoric I should insist on this—is, to speak the truth. This first, this second, this third; pebbles in your mouth or not. This demands earnestness and manhood chiefly.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)