So far, a typical French novel. They only think about themselves and if there is something profitable in it, then they’ll convert to whatever they need to convert into. Interview met Michel Houellebecq’, in: NRC Handelsblad, (September 23, 2005) 27. Simplifions lhistoire: Florent-Claude Labrouste est un agronome dans la quarantaine qui décide de se soustraire à la vie sociale. I think Houellebecq has a very powerful critique, it s a very powerfully felt critique. Today, even new life (in the womb) may be extinguished to avoid disturbing the individual’s freedom. 7 Sylvain Bourmeau, “Scare Tactics: Michel Houellebecq Defends His Controversial New Book,” Paris Review, January 2, 2015. The latter is the case for the controversial French writer Michel Houellebecq. Rudderless. This is a light read. An inevitable result of all this is the demographic decline of Europe. This frustration is expressed directly by the character Christiane in Les particules élémentaires: Never could stand feminists. The French edition of the book was published on 7 January 2015 by Flammarion, with German (Unterwerfung) and Italian (Sottomissione) translations also published in January. Once a metaphysical mutation has arisen, it tends to move inexorably toward its logical conclusion.6. Unable to chart a course for ourselves, we are floating around in an empty sea. Au bout d’une demi-heure je me relevai, définitivement déserté par l’Esprit, réduit à mon corps endommagé, périssable, et je redescendis tristement les marches en direction du parking.” Quoted from Michel Houellebecq, Submission, trans. It is also more subtle than you might expect. Farrar, Straus and Giroux will publish a translation by Shaun Whiteside in September 2019. In a few short years, they managed to turn every man they knew into an impotent, whining neurotic. Milk, grain, and meat from massive tillages in South America are dumped onto the French market, effectively seal­ing the fate of the farmers of France. Anyway, they fuck their way through two or three, maybe more if they’re really pretty, and wind up with a kid. But has this been an autonomous process? They would be allowed to have multiple wives. Erratic consumer preferences, capricious fashions, and an unpredictable herd instinct dictate the opinions (or the whims and fancies) of most of us who no longer have a family, a home, a church, and a nation to reinforce our sense of identity. Essays and criticism on Michel Houellebecq - Critical Essays. The rise of Christianity might be cited as an example. In desperation, the resistance leader commits suicide at a demonstration not unlike today’s gilets jaunes protests. Michel Houellebecq is perhaps the single most successful and controversial of all contemporary novelists writing in French. The feminists will not be able to, if we’re being completely honest. Phénomène rare, artificiel et tardif, l’amour ne peut s’épanouir que dans des conditions mentales spéciales, rarement réunies, en tous points opposées à la liberté de moeurs qui caractérise l’époque modern. I know what the veterans of ’68 are like when they hit forty. All control of life—and of who we are—is lost. One reason may be that Houellebecq is not just a reactionary, he’s also a critic of modern capitalism. Perhaps the protagonist remains lying on the sofa in his apartment, crushed, unable even to gather the strength to walk to the open balcony door and hop over the railing? Does he then sacrifice himself and plummet to the ground in a desperate attempt to save us all? Today women, from an early age, are encouraged to pursue a career and be financially independent. Gradually something akin to a will to live begins to resurface: he notices skirts by the bar in a café, girls, facial expressions, emotion, desire, and irritation at the mind-numbing TV programs he had been watching every day. Obviously, this is critique on the Islam of the highest order. Then, via desperate consumerism and sexual hedonism, to a futile, feeble cry for help into the cosmos. The new Michel Houellebecq novel, Serotonin, is an exhausted and exhausting book. They don’t have much choice, really—most of them have money problems too.5. . If they continue to work full hours, building a family becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible. People who critique the Islam can get death threats or drawing Muhammed might mean blasphemy and the loss of Muslim friends. Houelle­becq, however, draws upon older intuitions which maintain that the bond which forms through sexual intimacy may reemerge once or twice, but not much more, and that we should therefore be extremely cautious in acquiring amorous experience. For a brief moment, just before the end of Michel Houellebecq’s latest novel Sérotonine, a ray of hope seems to galvanize its protagonist. True, the Islam has some unacceptable laws, but it’s we as a society who are willing to let those unacceptable laws exist as long as we get some profit from it (here: multiple women). Already subscribed? When learning about this all the male intellectuals decide that the Islam isn’t all that bad and become a Muslim. 6 “Les mutations métaphysiques—c’est-à-dire les transformations radicales et globales de la vision du monde adoptée par le plus grand nombre—sont rares dans l’histoire de l’humanité. The Rebirth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Technology (New York 2014). However, once you've diagnosed the pathology you can't just surrender to it. Sex, in short, can be a threat—and not simply an aide—to intimacy and love. Houellebecq blames the Flower Power generation that spawned the revolution of 1968 for bringing that vision to fruition. In Les particules élémentaires (1998), the pursuit of knowledge itself assumes religious proportions that raises mankind to a divine perspective through genetic manipulation. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Another outcome is constant con­flict, constant competition—and in the end, fighting, divorce, and social isolation—and a new generation of boys and girls growing up in such disfigured settings. But this liberation has not made us happy. The remedy for this collapse of the modern promise is clear. His mother was a "sexually liberated" anaesthetist; his father a mountain guide. Michel Houellebecq's novel follows the career of a French academic during a future election in France in which a Muslim party wins. REVIEW ESSAY Sérotonine by Michel Houellebecq Flammarion, 2019, 352 pages. Constantly enticed by the promise of relief, which in the end never really re­lieves, we keep hopelessly searching for the thing that “truly” makes us, as “individuals,” “be ourselves.” In Houellebecq’s view, the very philosophical concept of “the individual self” is wrong. Dès lors qu’une mutation métaphysique s’est produite, elle se développe sans rencontrer de résistance jusqu’à ses conséquences ultimes.” Quoted from Houellebecq, Atomised, 4. Véronique had known too many discothèques, too many lovers; such a way of life impoverishes a human being, inflicting sometimes serious and always irreversible damage. If you sense overtones of George Orwell here, be advised, it smacks of Orwellian critique – Houellebecq exchanges the political dogma of “Big Brother” for the omnipresent religious dogma in the neohumans, the “Supreme Sister”. To start with sex, in Extension du domaine de la lutte Houelle­becq writes: From the amorous point of view, Véronique belonged, as we all do, to a sacrificed generation. ( Log Out /  Where does this liberal view of man, which has ushered in the rapid decline of Western civilization, originate? ( Log Out /  Et je comprends, aujourd’hui, le point de vue du Christ, son agacement répété devant l’endurcissement des coeurs: ils ont tous les signes, et ils n’en tiennent pas le compte. Al­though Houellebecq, a poet more than a philosopher, shies away from laying out a detailed political manifesto, he tells us on every page that we need to rediscover a territorial, social, and historical connection with others around us, a connection which transcends individual choice, momentary whims, and instrumental interests. Sérotonine tells the story of Florent-Claude, who grows up somewhere near Paris, trains as an agriculturalist, finds a job with Mon­santo, and later works in Normandy’s cheese industry before ending up in the French Ministry of Agriculture. Soumission ended in a vague conditional tense, like a dream, with a distant vision of an Islamized Europe. We fly towards the light like moths; we are constantly drawn by its maddening attraction—and yet we are never fulfilled by the thing we pursue. . Michel Houellebecq’s Critique of Western Anomie. En réalité, les expériences sexuelles successives accumulées au cours de l’adolescence minent et détruisent rapidement toute possibilité de projection d’ordre sentimental et romanesque.” Quoted from Houellebecq, Whatever, 112. He questions the sacred trinity of the modern worldview. Especially after the Zen workshops. But whatever the case, it is not easy to see how we could possibly constrain the forces that we have unleashed. . Elle avait certainement été capable d’amour; elle aurait souhaité en être encore capable, je lui rends ce témoinage; mais cela n’était plus possible. Sérotonine, too, ends in a quasi-religious meditation. Or has it been manufactured? Critiques (455), citations (411), extraits de Soumission de Michel Houellebecq. | Sign In with Blink, Scare Tactics: Michel Houellebecq Defends His Controversial New Book. Why, then, has Houellebecq, for his latest book, chosen a pro­tagonist who belongs to the nihilistic 1990s rather than the asser­tive 2010s? Subsequently, he experiences up close how rural life is collapsing as a consequence of free trade and unfair competition from Third World countries. Having languished for years without a sense of purpose, Florent-Claude resolves to end his reliance on antidepressants. Ces élans d’amour qui affluent dans nos poitrines jusqu’à nous couper le souffle, ces illuminations, ces extases, inexplicables si l’on considère notre nature biologique, notre statut de simples primates, sont des signes extrêmement clairs. Journal of Aesthetics and Phenomenology, Vol. Why has he returned to the old theme of an exhausted mid­lifer who watches it all happening but is powerless to intervene? Lorin Stein (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015), 139. Il est de bon ton de critiquer le dernier Houellebecq. Tiré chez Flammarion à 320 000 exemplaires, c'est la sensation de la rentrée littéraire. So they have crying fits. They’ll critique and humor anything and the more taboo surrounds the topic, the quicker they’ll be to do it. E ver the deadpan comedian, Michel Houellebecq … His latest novel, Serotonin, was published in an English translation earlier this year, and was promptly analyzed by numerous critics and public intellectuals across the country. Now this fundamental point which Houellebecq makes time and again deserves further reflection, because it challenges the very fun­damentals of both the contemporary “Left” and the “Right.” It challenges modern anthropology as such. . Getting what we want does not make us happy; it actually makes us unhappy. Michel Houellebecq enflamme la rentrée. Elle possédait la suzeraineté, elle possédait la puissance, mais peu à peu je sentais que je perdais le contact, qu’elle s’éloignait dans l’espace et dans les siècles tandis que je me tassais sur mon banc, ratatiné, restreint. Or do we still—despite the Herculean challenge of overcoming modern individualism—have the option of revitalizing our civilization? Metaphysical mutations—that is to say radical, global transfor­mations in the values to which the majority subscribe—are rare in the history of humanity. ( Log Out /  H.P. In reality, the successive sexual experiences accumulated during adolescence undermine and rapidly destroy all possibility of projection of an emotional and ro­mantic sort.3. It contains a scathing critique of the European Union and imagines farmers blocking roadways … But it doesn’t last. Houellebecq masterfully gives critique both to the Islam and to the hypocrisy of the intellectual elite, who don’t really follow through in their beliefs when it isn’t profitable for them to follow them. It’s quite straight to the point and doesn’t leave much room for multiple narratives. It echoes, in certain ways, Marxist Verelendungstheorie: as technological inno­vations have made jobs boring and interchangeable, and as free trade has destroyed traditional farm life and honest labor, we now pass through life as atomized wage slaves in the service of incomprehensible, unfathomable government organizations and overwhelmingly powerful multinational corporations. The novel is narrated by François, a 44-year-old professor at the Sorbonne interested in little more than food, alcohol and sex. Le nouveau roman de Michel Houellebecq, "Sérotonine", vient de sortir. Frank Wynne (New York: Vintage Books, 2001), 121–22. The Elementary Particles was and continues to be a cause célèbre in France. Listen to Michel Houellebecq, enfant terrible of French literature The author is a friend of many of French society's movers and shakers, having met … He has to be deliberalized. She had certainly been ca­pable of love; she would have wished to still be capable of it, I’ll say that for her; but it was no longer possible. Here, people can experience instant pleasure but duties—the care of children and elders—are avoided. . . Religion is not something people are able to critique easily. Introduction Tomasz Swoboda: Flânerie poétique de Michel Houellebecq Marie Gil: La métaphore « impossible ». A scarce, artificial and belated phenomenon, love can only blossom under certain mental conditions, rarely conjoined, and totally opposed to the freedom of morals that characterizes the modern era. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Nowadays (definitely in Belgium) there is a lot of debate concerning the immigration of people from Muslim countries. Do I really have to be so explicit? Are the cards then dealt? Alex Clark. Houellebecq has become a global publishing phenomenon: his books have been translated worldwide, three film adaptations of his work have been produced, and the author has been the subject of million-euro publishing deals and of successive media scandals in France. Having languished for years without a sense of purpose, Florent-Claude resolves to end his reliance on antidepressants. Sign In With Your AAJ Account In La possibilité d’une île (2005), that cry finally brings a new holistic world religion into being, which sublimates desire in an almost Buddhist manner. So yes, the modern world brought liberation. We are profoundly incapable of defining ourselves as individuals (although we think we can). Sexe et dépression en sont les deux pôles principaux. Like all Houellebecq heroes, Michel only finds relief in sex (.....) The book has been translated into rather polite English, which is a pity. Michel Houellebecq (prononcer [wɛlˈbɛk]), né Michel Thomas le 26 février 1956 à Saint-Pierre (La Réunion), est un écrivain, poète et essayiste français. For without the ability to define ourselves in an unbreakable connection with our surroundings, there is nothing for us to derive meaning from and we end up depressed. While the pro­tagonist deliberates over whether or not to jump from his apartment (and after he has just worked out the speed and duration of the fall in a dry, almost surreal calculation), suddenly there is this: Actually, God does care about us, he thinks about us all the time, and he guides us, sometimes quite precisely. Michel Houellebecq is a famous French novelist, a student of Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy, and a controversial prophet of pessimism. F or a brief moment, just before the end of Michel Houellebecq’s latest novel Sérotonine, a ray of hope seems to galvanize its protagonist.For a short while he seems to recover his lust for life. The French edition of the book was published on 7 January 2015 by Flammarion, with German (Unterwerfung) and Italian (Sottomissione) translations also published in January. 3 “Du point de vue amoureux Véronique appartenait, comme nous tous, à une génération sacrifiée. In a way his vision reminds me of something my PhD supervisor, the British philosopher Roger Scruton, once (jokingly) told me, that “the discovery of fossil fuels is the greatest tragedy in the history of man.” Whatever he really meant by that (he certainly wasn’t referring to that other modern heresy, the quasi-religion of “climate change”), he seemed to suggest that we have unleashed forces which we are unable to control. Michel Houellebecq’s latest novel acquired an air of urgency when its publication in France, at the beginning of this year, coincided with the emergence of the anti-metropolitan agitators known as les gilets jaunes. All of Michel Houellebecq's usual concerns and areas of interest, that is: the protagonist fed up with and disappointed by contemporary civilisation, the exotic foreign locale, the nutty cult, contemporary tourist-culture, cloning and other age-defying attempts, the sex. This naturally implies a powerful nation-state that protects the social fabric, along with a high degree of skepticism towards immigration and free trade. The more we “liberate” ourselves from our social ties, the more we become the slaves of our own distorted self-image. What hap­pens when they hit thirty? Houellebecq's critique of modern man's isolation from his fellows is certainly accurate. Sérotonine - Michel Houellebecq ***** There's no question that the major publishing event of the new French literary season is the new book by Michel Houellebecq, the now aging enfant terrible of the French literary establishment. In this sense, Sérotonine is typical of Houellebecq’s oeuvre. The final struggle between Godefroy l’Empereur and the Islamists remained undescribed—and in our world, too, the future remains undecided and our vision is often warped by the frame of liberal individualism. If that is true, we must wait not just for his next book, but for the next generation of authors to pick up the challenge and run with it a little further: and to help us express, and even revive, the Western will to live. Thierry Baudet is a member of the Dutch Parliament and founder of the party Forum for Democracy. Étude des poésies de Michel Houellebecq Delphine Grass: Michel Houellebecq et les préromantiques allemands : vers une lecture poétique du roman houellebecquien Joaquim Lemasson: Une poésie prosaïque Per Buvik: Inauthenticité et ironie. Paul Collier, Times Literary Supplement Of course, the cult of virginity lost its credibility in the Western world some time ago, today’s philosophy being that we have to experiment to find the right partner. Change ), on Soumission by Michel Houellebecq – Book Review, Factfulness by Hans Rosling – Book Review, Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins – Book Review. In this age of instant hookups and online pornography, renewed chastity seems very far off. For a short while he seems to recover his lust for life. In Plateforme, the limitless supply of sex in Thailand’s coastal resorts leaves the author’s subjects on a temporary high.