Maybe it’s that I am too young to understand his work, maybe I haven’t read enough French literature, maybe I haven’t read him enough, or maybe it’s that I don’t agree with him politically (I’m a leftist) but I just don’t get him. He is provocative and that has been working for him. I thought Submission was…eh? (also kind of islamophobic). Though maybe I didn’t like that one because I don’t live in France and I don’t know the situation there. I tried Elementary Particles, I thought a part of it was really strange. I feel like he tries to be Céline but fails.
So please, if there’s anyone who “gets” Houellebecq, could you explain to me the appeal of his work? Thank you!
by competitivetaxfraud
2 Comments
I’ve read a few. I’m French, I don’t get the hype either. La Carte et le Territoire was bad (uninformed, unresearched) and won the Goncourt Prize (the highest yearly prize in France). He’s quite a despicable person as well (islamophobia seems rampant in his mind). Céline was probably even more despicable (extremely antisemitic and very nazi-friendly during WW2), but he was an actual literary great. This is actually so problematic here that there are a lot of books written by scholars about Céline and how can we read his books while knowing about his personal life. Here, pretty much everyone saying they love Céline (like me) preface this by saying: I know, I know, he’s extremely problematic.
So, maybe I don’t get Houellebecq, maybe it’s just not for me, but I think he’s been way overhyped.
His books are mostly aimed at depressed Gen X/early millenials who never knew the “30 glorieuses” (French post-WW2 economic boom), too poor to buy a nice (or the one they would like) place for themselves and experiencing first-hand the results of failed integration of massive immigration waves, rampant violence, racism, antisemitism, rise of Islamic terrorism, education going down the drain, extreme individualism on the rise, and the world elites fucking up the environment at light speed while telling you to pee in the shower to save water, all of which converging into a sentiment of impending doom while being able to do close to nothing.
His books are supposed to make you feel like the Titanic musicians being forced to play while the ship is obviously sinking to its demise, it’s a very prevalent sentiment in western Europe, which might hit differently if you’re not from there or not from this generation.