The real Daniel is an aging yet still successful comedian who manages to bang young hotties up to a point where even he becomes too old for his girlfriend. But whereas the former only has genetic programming as a frame, the plot in The Possibility of an Island alternately is about Daniel and his two clones, living as hermits in post-apocalyptic environments. The Elementary Particles and The Possibility of an Island focus on futuristic scenarios, cloning in particular. Whatever is not as well-written and multi-faceted as Houellebecq’s later works, but quite entertaining and makes good points about for instance the significance of material wealth vis-a-vis emotional well-being. Sexual liberalism is likewise an extension of the domain of the struggle, its extension to all ages and all classes of society.” “Economic liberalism is an extension of the domain of the struggle, its extension to all ages and all classes of society. It is misanthropic and not very uplifting, although the reality for some people. His friend, on the other hand, is simply too ugly to bang and even considers to kill a more sexually successful black guy in resentment. The semi-depressed and cynical protagonist has had sex, although it was about two years ago since the last time, and is thus not a total lost case, but prefers to jerk off rather than to compete for the meat while in a nightclub. This angle was mainly used in Whatever, in which the unnamed protagonist and his ugly virgin co-worker Raphael face the reality of contemporary Western social-liberal culture. The sexual marketplaceĪs ROK writer Troy Francis emphasizes in his terrific article, Houellebecq was one of the first thinkers to analyze the sexual marketplace. Secondarily I will also make value judgments about the overall quality of each novel. I have also read some of his material in French, such as Lanzarote (2000), but focus solely on the English translations of the novels. In this article I will describe and explain some of the core ideas that Houellebecq has written about in Whatever, The Elementary Particles (2000), Platform (2002), The Possibility of an Island (2005), The Map and the Territory (2012), and Submission (2015).
While his novels mainly take place in France, many of the discourses can be contextualized so that an American can draw the same conclusions with regard to his native country. do not conform to general ideas) for people within the manosphere, he often makes good points and either creates laughter or encourages reflection. Ever since his first novel, translated into English as Whatever (published 1998, 1994 in French), he has generated, although somewhat repetitive in terms of style and main characters, splendid, multilayered novels.Įven when he sometimes touches upon subjects that are even “controversial” (i.e. However, the Frenchman Michel Houellebecq (1958-) is an exception. Few authors who write good fiction say something real, substantial and relevant about Western society and culture.