houellebecq

[Anonymous No.10603778]

what does /lit/ think of houellebecq? i'm currently reading "the elementary particles" and it's brilliant. best fiction i've read in a long time (i actually don't read much fiction).

[Anonymous No.10604436]

bumping, pls /lit/ let's discuss some /lit/. elementary particles is a a really interesting taken on the sexual revolution and its consequences

[Anonymous No.10604489]

>>10603778
>>10604436
Search the archive, there's been a billion threads about him

[Anonymous No.10604500]

>>10604489
Yeah, one of the Peterson threads could have died for this!

[Anonymous No.10605466]

bump

[Anonymous No.10605470]

>>10604500
lel

[Anonymous No.10605472]

>>10603778
When you pray you are talking to yourself. Daily reminder.

[Anonymous No.10605475]

>>10604436
So, what about it did you want to discuss? Is Elementary Particles a good place to start with Houellebecq?

[Anonymous No.10605480]

>>10603778
>what does /lit/ think of houellebecq?

He's the only living author I find truly compelling

[Anonymous No.10605481]

>>10605480
What about his writing do you find compelling? I haven't read Houellebecq, and I haven't heard much about him other than the themes he writes about (sexual politics, multiculturalism)

[Anonymous No.10605488]

>>10605475
idk it's the first book by him I've read but it's very good. I was hoping for some insight from people here who have read him more extensively/deeply. I'm just so surprised in the high quality of the material because I haven't heard him mentioned here except maybe a handful of times. I didn't think I would enjoy a fiction book this much again, it's been a while since I've read fiction. I'm pleased to see that there are contemporary writers putting stuff out there that isn't stale and limpid. This book is really full of vitality and pushing boundaries in an auhthentic way, not for the sake of edginess.

[Anonymous No.10605495]

—¿Crees que se ha jodido?
—Claro. Se jodió hace tiempo, al principio. Raphaël, tu nunca serás el dueño erótico de una chica. Tienes que hacerte cargo; esas cosas no son para ti. De todas formas, ya es demasiado tarde. El fracaso sexual que has tenido desde tu adolescencia, Raphaël, la frustración que te persigue desde los trece años, ya han dejado en ti una marca imborrable. Incluso suponiendo que pudieras conseguir alguna mujer a partir de ahora —cosa que, con toda franqueza, no creo que vaya a suceder—, no será bastante; ya nada será nunca bastante. Siempre serás huérfano de esos amores adolescentes que no tuviste. En ti la herida ya es muy dolorosa; pero lo será cada vez más. Una amargura atroz, sin remisión, que terminara inundándote el corazón. Para ti no habrá ni redención ni liberación. Así son las cosas.

[Anonymous No.10605500]

>>10605481
He weaves those political and philosophical themes into the story in a way that's so natural, when other authors who would try to do that would come out forced. I think he might be the only author today who has captured the real zeitgeist of our age, in its abject and naked reality, without sentimentalizing about it, without hypocritically glossing over anything. His writing is refreshingly honest. You see contemporary reality for what it is. It's simple, blunt, and it often hits right where it hurts. I didn't think the zeitgeist of our time could be so accurately captured till I read him. I think he really succeeded there.

[Anonymous No.10605503]

>>10603778
So this is why he's so misanthropic (and anti-hippie)

[Anonymous No.10605517]

>>10605500
I'll add: I think our age (especially the culture of our age) has a lot of skeletons in its closet, and he seems to be the only one talking about it in a blunt and direct fashion, without any sentimentality and hypocritical platitudes or rhetorical deflections. He also explores the roots of these issues, and his theories in that regard are compelling and interesting.

[Anonymous No.10605535]

>>10605481
There's no bullshit with Houellebecq, he has the gall to call things as they really are and face the nastiest and most banal sides of ourselves and life today.
Most other writers I come across today are only looking to exalt themselves in a pagentry and tow all the attitudes a writer "ought to have". Houellebecq is as individual as any poster you can come across here recounting his most frank beliefs and is quite funny and tender about it too

[Anonymous No.10605550]

>>10605488
>>10605500
>>10605517
>>10605535
Nice, definitely something I'll check out soon

[Anonymous No.10605552]

>>10603778
>>10603778
>>10603778
>>10603778
>>10603778
Hey.

I want to comment, but don't know who he is.

Can you give me a tl:dr on all his works?

Thank you

[Anonymous No.10605577]

>>10603778

After having the initial meme-exposure, I purchased a copy of Whatever and read it during work breaks in a musicless, windowless room at the grocery where I am employed. I did this while a thirty-plus man who has never had sex with a woman and mostly-intentionally do (does) not seek or maintain a meaningful social life.

Let's just say that the experience of the book's latter half hit pretty hard and it spoke to me, and let's leave it at that. My interpretation of the book's end is that the narrator went innawoods and committed suicide, a familiar notion.

I have a copy of map & territory but that one looks like a bit more work and I have other stuff I'd rather do at the moment.

[Anonymous No.10605581]

>>10605577
Why dont you get a job you punk

[Anonymous No.10605583]

>>10605581

Why don't you learn how to read, you embarassing non-virgin.

[Anonymous No.10605584]

His writing in one sense seems so bleak and pessimistic. He likes to unravel some of the most pathetic things modern man has concealed in his heart. At the same time his writing strangely gives me hope. It reminds me that I'm not delusional, it's not just in my head―the modern world really is fucked up, and in writing about it so effectively he's letting me know that I'm not the only one who sees it. It kind of gives you hope to know you aren't alone in feeling that our contemporary culture is fucked up.

[Anonymous No.10605587]

>>10605584
I think Houellebecq is a very compassionate person

[Anonymous No.10605591]

>>10605583
I can read and spell better than you anon i actually have a job and pay my taxes why dont you stop kicking the can and get your life together

[Anonymous No.10605596]

>>10605587
Me too. He deliberately provokes the opposite image of himself in the popular press in order to weed out the superficial. Michel Houellebecq reminds me of a character out of a Dostoevsky novel.

[Anonymous No.10605616]

>>10605584
>>10605587

I haven't read him, but I am prone to this sort of viewpoint and I think it's only possible if you're coming from a place where you care deeply about humanity. Only an empathetic person could have the insight into society you guys are ascribing to him, and fixating on its flaws belies a wish (if not a hope) that we lived in a better world.

I just read the interview with him in the Paris Review and he's surprisingly into sci fi, which often focuses on utopias/dystopias. I could see him being the sort of person who frequently imagines a better way of doing things and then picks apart all the ways it could never work in practice.

[Anonymous No.10605669]

>>10603778
He's a Roux de Poux

[Anonymous No.10605681]

>>10605669
what does that mean?

[Anonymous No.10605685]

>>10605681
franglicized way of saying soup of shit, I think

[Anonymous No.10605686]

>>10605669
Care to elaborate?

[Anonymous No.10605699]

>>10605616
>surprisingly into sci fi
haven't read it but it looks like one of his books is sci-fi
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Possibility_of_an_Island

[Anonymous No.10605722]

>>10605699
The cover looks like an ad for some sort of aquatic perfume from 2003
Book looks interesting, too.

[Anonymous No.10605723]

>>10605722
? Okay

[Anonymous No.10605956]

I read Submission and I totally disliked it. Mind you I only read it last year, after the hype died down. It was a flimsy exercise in self loathing, that shat on everything and offered nothing in return. A 300 page meme, if you will. I got the sense, that this men is a fraud, that only stirs up rumors, so no one might see, that he doesn't have enough substance to back it

[Anonymous No.10605977]

>>10603778

Despite all we throw at the ethnic French, they still remain the most /lit/ population.

[Anonymous No.10605980]

>>10605977
sad, but true

[Anonymous No.10605987]

>>10605956
>offered nothing in return

Not true, you're clearly a poor reader and simply easily upset

[Anonymous No.10606012]

>>10605987
honestly? yeah I was upset at first, but then I read up on interviews with the dude and figured that's what he wants and continued with a distant attitude and nothing ... there is nothing there.
And I gotta say Jelinek does this style better and Timur Vernes did the theme better.

[Anonymous No.10607367]

anyone has that quote about never being desired like a sex object?

[Anonymous No.10607444]

>>10605669
roody poo?

[Anonymous No.10607520]

would you describe him as sex-negative? of the little I've read of him, the most immediate comparison for me was Peter Sotos or Andrea Dworkin, except French and more humorous. that might seem like a stretch but I find them all connected by a distrust of the sexual revolution and "hippie" sexual politics, to the extent that they sometimes reach hyperbolic levels of sexual disgust in their writings.

[Anonymous No.10607552]

>>10607520
sex is inherently disgusting

[Anonymous No.10607553]

>>10607552
>inherently
I don't think you know what that word means

[Anonymous No.10607563]

>>10607552
with you, maybe

[Anonymous No.10607574]

>>10607563
btfo

[Anonymous No.10607621]

>>10607367
you mean a simple picture of him? it gives you the gist.
>>10607520
definately ... probably because he ain't hitting nothing but bored hookers.

[Anonymous No.10607623]

>>10603778
I haven't read any of his fiction but his work 'To Stay Alive' literally pulled me out of a sort of existential stupor and depression which I've been stuck in for the past year or so.

I'm unsure of whether that says more about myself or his work, either way it was a powerful experience for me.

[Anonymous No.10607631]

>>10607552
Sir Soviet GTFO.

[Anonymous No.10608156]

where the houellebecq girls at

[Anonymous No.10608168]

>>10603778
I'm halfway through "Whatever". It's fine, but I feel like I get the point already, is it worth finishing

[Anonymous No.10608171]

greatest living author, everything he writes is extremely relevant

[Anonymous No.10608176]

>>10607520
>of the little I've read of him, the most immediate comparison for me was Peter Sotos or Andrea Dworkin
Wow, so much for checking him out then.

[Anonymous No.10608180]

>>10605503

Women are a meme

[Anonymous No.10608184]

>>10608156
he definitely has groupies. i wish i was french, they treat philosophers and artists like rosckstars over there

[Anonymous No.10608219]

OP's pic is actually one of the most attractive ones of him.

[Anonymous No.10608228]

>>10608219
truly, a modern day diogenes

[Anonymous No.10608237]

>>10608228
Louis C.K. is the modern day Diogenes.

[Anonymous No.10608257]

>>10605500
>>10605517
Said it very well

[Anonymous No.10608278]

>>10605517
>He also explores the roots of these issues, and his theories in that regard are compelling and interesting
Is it capitalism?

It is capitalism, isn't it?

[Anonymous No.10608285]

>>10608219
He looks like one of those old pedos you'd see camping around those nudie beaches in Europe .

>>10608278
In part, there's much more to it.

[Anonymous No.10608317]

>>10605956
I agree with you. He's grossly overrated - as the majority of today's french writers are, including Modiano, for example. Submission and Lanzarote are absolute trash. I really don't understand what people see in his books.

[Anonymous No.10608334]

>>10608168
Yes.

[Anonymous No.10608353]

I just finished submission yesterday. It's a very effective satire of modern Western society and its morality. In the end the book does leave the reader wanting.

I didn't enjoy the work that much, but then maybe it was aimed at a different audience.

[Anonymous No.10608363]

>>10608176
that's a pretty tenuous comparison. he's much more palatable than either.

[Anonymous No.10609092]

bump

[Anonymous No.10609626]

what did he mean by this

[Anonymous No.10609776]

>>10609626
Are you sure this isn't Pynchon?

[Anonymous No.10609789]

Houellebecq is going to be remembered. Even his name sounds ready for the canon.

[Anonymous No.10609867]

>>10609776
Yes, it's from elementary particles

[Anonymous No.10609924]

Read elementary particles and while it was easy to read, it seemed too simplistic. The guy has the biggest mommy complex.

[Anonymous No.10610119]

>>10603778
greatest living author

[Anonymous No.10610124]

>>10609924
His mother was a horrible cunt so go figure

[Anonymous No.10610131]

>>10609626
this is so catchy

[Anonymous No.10610279]

>>10608184
huh?

[Anonymous No.10610355]

>>10603778


Why every fucking writer has a picture smoking?
Where does this edgy complex came from?

[Anonymous No.10610660]

>>10610355
he chainsmokes

[Anonymous No.10610665]

>>10610355
he smokes like 4 packs a day, or at least he used to. mentioned in an interview he was trying to cut back

[Anonymous No.10610676]

>>10603778
bolaño is better

[Anonymous No.10610683]

>>10610355
He's french to begin with, and he's a writer. No wonder he fucking smokes like a lunatic lol

[Anonymous No.10610903]

>>10610665
He's cutting back on the number of teeth in his mouth.

[Anonymous No.10611418]

>>10610676
is there some kind of competition between them? why mention him? whats their relation?

[Anonymous No.10611560]

he has feminine sensibilities and definitely at least one third woman. What sort of man experiences sex as “floating”?

>>10605584
>>10605500
>>10605517
disgusting low life “it’s not me who’s the problem, it’s modernity” core posters get out and read some lastpsychiatrist

[Anonymous No.10611564]

>>10608317
Joke's on you. Submission and Lanzarote are his worst books. Lanzarote is a failed experiment, which he mended later in Possibilty of an Island. Submission is okay only if you've read all his works and want more just for the sake of it.

[Anonymous No.10611653]

>>10611560
>read some lastpsychiatrist
>"hurrr if you identify anything as a problem that's not u then u are a narcisist!!!!"
>"hurrr everyone is a narcisist!!"
>"lol michael bay amirite"
wow thanks for the recommendation

[Anonymous No.10611666]

>>10609626
Alright, the comparison to Dworkin scared me off, but this rekindled my interest.

[Anonymous No.10611681]

>>10611653
Yes, doesn't quite reach the profundity of

>hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreverythingiseveryoneelsesfaultandalsocapitalismtooaswellhurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Anonymous No.10611692]

>>10605956
>>10606012
butthurt nationalists detected.....

[Anonymous No.10611699]

>>10611560
>lastpsychiatrist
Wait do people actually take this seriously instead of just a fun read? Wew

[Anonymous No.10611702]

>>10611692
yeh like they should gb/pole/ :roleyes: ...

[Anonymous No.10611717]

>>10611699
About as serious as contemporary French prose.

[Anonymous No.10612144]

>>10609626
LIL BECQ
YUH
OOU

[Anonymous No.10612279]

>>10610355
with some it's posturing, with houellebecq it's probably simply because it's hard to catch him without a cigarette

[Anonymous No.10612474]

>>10612279
>le deep cigarette man

[Anonymous No.10612551]

Daily reminder that Houellebeq's biography is free online but no Frenchfag is man enough to translate it for us:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/185072322/Houellebecq-Non-Autorise-Enquete-Denis-Demonpion

[Anonymous No.10613498]

>>10604436
But that ending really confused me. Why did these genetically superior beings write this book to commemorate their creator and his brother but spend a very long time discussing Brunos penis and his sexual interests and not the science that went into making them?

[Anonymous No.10613548]

Vote for Joe Caruso
https://savejersey.com/2018/01/poll-congress-rodney-frelinghuysen-new-jersey-house-candidate/

[Anonymous No.10613611]

>>10611681
This is the text-equivalent of a temper tantrum

[Anonymous No.10614889]

Submission was cool. Anyone who says it isn't pro-Islam is retarded.

[Anonymous No.10616311]

>". It's a curious thing, the thirst for knowledge ... very few people have it, you know, even among scientists. Most of them are happy to make a career for themselves and Inove into management, but it's incredibly important to the history of humanity. It's easy to imagine a fable in which a small group of men—a couple hundred, at most, in the whole world—work intensively on something very difficult, very abstract, completely incomprehensible to the uninitiated. These men remain completely unknown to the rest of the world; they have no apparent power, no money, no honors; nobody can understand the pleasure they get from their work. In fact, they are the most powerful men in the world, for one simple reason: they hold the keys to rational certainty. Everything they declare to be true will be accepted, sooner or later, by the whole population. There is no power in the world-economic, political, religious or social-that can compete with rational certainty"

[Anonymous No.10616314]

>>10613498
put spoilers faggot

[Anonymous No.10616349]

>>10616311
>Inove
move*

[Anonymous No.10616551]

>>10616314
It isn't a good ending so no.

[Anonymous No.10617400]

>>10614889
I found it to be neither pro- nor anti-islam. It just presents a case of what might happen if political islam gets into power in the modern passive self-loathing West.

[Anonymous No.10618099]

>>10603778
semi-good writer, but his plots are dull and he's a pathetic being.

[Anonymous No.10618109]

>>10617400
Well it's still based on a prejudiced view of Islam - even if that prejudice is positive.

[Anonymous No.10618308]

>>10618109
What prejudiced view are you talking about?

[Anonymous No.10618317]

>>10618308
different anon here, I got the impression he read up a lot of islamic theory and teachings, but hasn't spoken to real life muslim in his entire life

[Anonymous No.10618445]

>>10618317 >>10618308
Pretty much this. It seems like he thinks all Muslims agree with conservative Egyptian scholars or some shit, when in fact many Muslims (esp. in western countries) care little about religion. Then there's also a lot of dissent - many are more liberal/Sufi-like than what is portrayed in his books and some are even more conservative (say, some scholars think homosexuality is 100% halal and others want to kill gays. Many Muslims just don't care about homosexuality at all tho).

He's essentially generalising Muslims to one uniform body.

[Anonymous No.10618473]

>>10604436
Individualism is dying now. It's collapsing along with capitalism.

[Anonymous No.10618511]

>>10618445
Funny, reminds me of an interview Houellebecq gave around the time Submission was released. Apparently his editor kept bothering him about certain facts that were wrong in his manuscript (things like street names and highway layouts). Houellebecq complained that apparently even literary professionals don't know what 'fiction' means anymore.

The generalisation you're talking about obviously just works better in fiction. Houellebecq is not aiming for nuance. And besides, in my opinion at least, focussing on the role of islam misrepresents what the book is really about (Western civilisation in decline, desperately grabbing hold of anything that offers an easy way out of misery).

[Anonymous No.10619575]

>>10618511
Good post.

[Anonymous No.10620307]

OP, here. Currently writing a review of "Elementary Particles". Will post link when I'm done, if there is interest.

[Anonymous No.10620927]

>>10620307
Well, here's the review, as promised:
https://juanfitzcarraldo.wordpress.com/2018/02/01/a-short-review-of-houellebecqs-the-elementary-particles/