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/lit/ - Literature

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12558569 No.12558569 [Reply] [Original]

>The French novelist (whose books include Atomised, Platform and Submission) once stated that the role of the artist is to “put your finger on the wound in society and press down real hard”.
Is he right? Is this the role of the artist? What is the role of the artist bros? What author has the best take on this subject?

>> No.12558680

Why is Houllebecq so often discussed around here? I recently read Platform and loved it, but seems few people have heard of him outside our little echo chamber.

>> No.12558798

>>12558569
The role of the artist first and foremost is to entertain. Only once a person has mastered that aspect should they try to use art to deliver any kind of 'higher' meaning.

>> No.12558804

>>12558798
But what about the artist bros?

>> No.12558813

the role of the artist is navel gazing. a few entertaining artists will be elevated to cultural icons and be paid for their navel gazing... i'm starting to get sick of all this art i've invested my life in. none of it tells me anything or goes anywhere. the role of the artist is withdrawal from society and life. i don't know if i can be satisfied with that for the rest of my days. rather, i don't know if i should be.

>> No.12558824

>>12558569
What the fuck is going on with how leftists and brooklynites have suddenly started liking Houllebecq? anyone else noticed this?

>> No.12558847

>>12558824
Think about where most of your interactions with leftists come from.
You're probably just be advertised to, and are associating it with 'leftists'

>> No.12558896

>>12558680
He is the most famous active writer that is not in YA or Fantasy.
He is famous elsewhere too.

>> No.12558905

>>12558896
Murakami
Junot Diaz
all the shitty pop authors who are famous but not good, such as JK Rowling and Dan Brown

What are you smoking? He's not in the top 25. Maybe not in the top 100.

>> No.12558911

>>12558896
>>12558905
Pynchon
Ian McEwan

>> No.12558914

>>12558804
Writers aren’t artists

>> No.12558918

>>12558847
>>12558896
>>12558905
Cormac McCarthy
George RR Martin
Margaret Atwood

>> No.12558922

>>12558905
I think Houellebecq appears more in the media than Murakami or Diaz. Or so is my impression. Dan Brown and Rowling are YA.

>> No.12558929

>>12558824
Since there's nothing to convey "Brooklyn" or "leftist" in the OP, maybe it's your obsession with these that is the problem?

>> No.12558934

>>12558569
That’s just how much he worships Balzac. 19th century mentality.

>> No.12558936

>>12558911
>>12558918
>>12558905
Pynchon and McCarthy are discussed here often, Martin is fantasy which many here dislike, only faggots like you read Murakami e Atwood

>> No.12558956

>>12558905
What? Diaz Isn't well known outside of /lit/.

>> No.12558962

>>12558922
>I think Houellebecq appears more in the media than Murakami or Diaz
I see Murakami in the media way moreo ften than Houellebecq, he's literally the comfort food of the media class; a ultra-westernized ethnic minority with middlebrow tastes.

>> No.12559466

>>12558896
I heard he is pretty famous in Europe, but in America is isn't very well known

>> No.12559474

>>12558962
I'd call murakami more as entry levpel high brow rather than middle-brow

>> No.12559475

>>12558569
This absolute fucking retard edgelord is an embarrassment and nothing else

>> No.12559499

really glad everyone ignored ops post ironic im only prtending to be stupid transparent trolling and just derailed about something else

>> No.12559599

>>12558905
He's a god in Europe. Nobody gives a shit about Díaz or Memakami.

>> No.12559746
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12559746

>>12558934
you think someone who worships Balzac would do this?

Houellebecq worships Zemmour

>> No.12560208

>>12558569
>is this the role of the artist?
The role of the artist is to make beautiful art. Nothing more.

>> No.12560454

>>12558569
If he really said that, it is just some lazy essentialism centered around his own idea of himself as a writer. There are plenty of good artists that lack the urgency to be edgy.

>> No.12560466

>>12558824
why wouldn't collectivists find an issue with atomization?

>> No.12560502

>>12558929
Haha I love being psychoanalysed. The OP mentions houellebecq, I decided to remark on a phenomenon whereby a writer who was once reviled by the left has begun to be adopted by them. I didn't say it was a bad thing, and in fact I'm happy they're reading him, even if they completely misunderstand him.

>>12560466
Because contemporary American leftists aren't collectivist. They're individualists and hedonists who can't stop screeching about autonomy as all the goods of community gets dragged through the mud. I listened to Chapo Trap House once, apparently the premier voice of American socialism. I lasted until one of the chicks said "community is an inherently reactionary concept that the left should shun," before I had to turn it off. Leftists generally and anarchists in particular are the janissaries of liberalism and capitalism

>> No.12560534

>>12558680
>few people have heard of him outside our little echo chamber

He's well known in rightwing intellectual Twitter circles too where he's recognized as a prophet.

>> No.12560589

>>12560534
>rightwing intellectual Twitter circles
Of America maybe
In Europe or at least Germany he is a prominent intellectual

>> No.12561002

>>12558680
Since december there has been articles about him in every major swedish newspaper every week. He is huge in Europe.

>> No.12561052
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12561052

>>12560502
>"community is an inherently reactionary concept that the left should shun,"

i hope you're just shitposting

>> No.12561084
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12561084

Houellebecq is my favorite writer only because of The Possibility of an Island. I highly recommend that book, it cut deep

>> No.12561159

>>12558569
The role of the artist is to make art.

>> No.12561222

>>12558569
>tfw all of my thoughts on writing are eerily similar
I wrote an essay for my English degree Years ago arguing writing is like picking at a scab you won’t let heal. Good to know someone else thinks about literature in a gross corporeal way too

>> No.12561465

>>12560502
Damn you sound like a

fffffffffffffffaaaaaaaaaaagggggggooooootttttttt

>> No.12561497

>>12559499
>phew, another thread on 4chan saved!
This is literally you. This is how much of a loser you are.

>> No.12561520

>>12560454
>>12561222
>>12561084
This is what he said in its entirety, in an essay addressing writers:

>The goal of the society where you live is to destroy you. You have the same goal with regard to society. The weapon that it will use is indifference. You cannot allow yourself to have the same attitude. Attack! All societies have their points of least resistance, their wounds. Put your finger on the wound, and press down hard.
>Delve into the subjects that no one wants to hear about. The other side of the scenery. Insist upon sickness, agony, ugliness. Speak of death, and of oblivion. Of jealousy, of indifference, of frustration, of the absence of love. Be abject, and you will be true. Belong to nothing. Or else belong, and then immediately betray. No theoretical engagement should hold you up for very long. Militancy makes one happy, and yours is not to be happy. You are on the side of unhappiness; you are the dark adversary. Your mission is not, above all, to propose, neither is it to construct. If you can do this, do it. If you end up with insupportable contradictions, say so. Because your most profound mission is to delve toward the True. You are the grave-digger, and you are the cadaver. You are the body of society. You are responsible for the body of society. You are all responsible, in equal measure. Embrace the earth, you scum! Determine innocence, and guilt. First in yourself; this will furnish you with a guide. But also in others. Consider their behavior, and their excuses; then judge, in all impartiality. You have not spared yourself; spare no one.

>> No.12561578

>>12561052
What are you talking about

It's a quote from Chapo Trap House. It's a reliable barometer for the most popular opinions of American leftists. Do I think it's a corruption of traditional leftist thought? Mostly yes (thought there is a kernel of truth in it.) However, it's along the lines of what most American left wingers believe

>>12561465
Fuck off back to the cumtown subreddit

>> No.12561596

>>12561578
>Cum Town
>Chapo
Why are you obsessed with those podcasts that nobody here has even bothered listening to? Lleftists from Brooklyn really do live in your head.

>> No.12562226

>>12559746
>Houellebecq worships Zemmour

Très bon mème ânon, taupe quèque.

>> No.12562263

>>12561596
This is actually a good point because I am defininitely too online and care too much about this stuff. But at the same time, I care about the demographics of this board, and there has been a very distinct shift from the kind of decent /leftypol/ content we used to get posted here, to the vastly inferior ironyfags who have started rearing their heads here since these podcasts started gaining traction.

So I'm willing to take half an L on account of caring about inane small fry political bullshit but I don't think it's remotely true that these cultural trends don't affect the discourse on this board.

>> No.12562270

>>12558569
There are other ways to call attention to a wound than pushing down on it. I think he is an anguish masochist, enjoys pushing on the open wounds in his own psyche.