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/lit/ - Literature

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7924275 No.7924275 [Reply] [Original]

I'm curious to see what Houellebecq everyone has read. I only see a few of his books discussed here frequently, and I'm just trying to see if it's lack of knowledge or just nobody caring.
http://strawpoll.me/7375698/

>> No.7924322

>>7924275
Also, post why you do or don't like him.

>> No.7924378

>Houellebecq

>>>/r9k/

>> No.7925259

>>7924275
All of Welbeck's books up to The Map and The Territory are pathetic rehashes of Whatever. Whatever's great though, he should have just written that and died of alcoholism.

>> No.7925275

>>7924378

Back to tumblr, roastie whore.

>> No.7925283

I've read all his books except submission. I don't get why they call him misogynist since most of his female characters are sympathetic.

>> No.7925697

He's one of the greatest writers of our times. The Dostoevsky of the 21st century.

>> No.7925703

>>7924275
Houellebecq is
-bad style
-bad content

no wonder why women love him

>> No.7925706

I ain't no Houellebecq girl.

>> No.7925940

>>7925283
>I don't get why they call him misogynist
He commits the unforgivable crime of depictin women realistically, without pretending they're nicer, smarter or more empathetic than men.

>> No.7925943

>>7925703
>bad style
>bad content
>women love him
You're thinking of John Green.

>> No.7926037

I'm currently making my way through all his full-length novels, I've just got The Possibility of an Island and The Map and the Territory to go now.

>Things I like
Brilliant social satire. At times it feels like I'm reading 4chan the book, but I don't think he's just being le edgy provocateur - his characters are just the natural consequence of a society that worships sex and consumerism, and nothing else. He raises some very interesting questions about the possible consequences about decreasing religion and increasing multiculturalism, both of which are some of Europe's most pressing issues. I don't think he's a racist or a misogynist, I think he's a misanthrope who doesn't have much love for anyone. His prose is unremarkable (at least in English translation), but he has the occasional turn of phrase which I really like.

>Things I don't like
All of his protagonists are essentially the same character. Whilst I understand why he includes them, the sex scenes are a little gratuitous and boring after a while. I don't understand the reason for some of the racist stuff, and occasionally it does feel like he's putting stuff in just to provoke liberals.

>> No.7926284

>>7926037
I definitely read him for the ideas, not the prose. Reading Houellebecq for the prose is like buying a Miata to go fast.
I think he's the most important writer working right now because he confronts issues other writers won't approach. Even if someone is all for multiculturalism and all that, it's important to have a dissenter who can write about it lucidly.

>> No.7926312

>>7926037
>>7926284
How can you judge the prose if you read translations ?

>> No.7926342

>>7926312
I've read him in English and French, he doesn't really lose much in translation. The only one that might lose some is The Map and the Territory, but even then it isn't much.

>> No.7926349

>tfw you had a dream where you were on a ship going home and houllebecq was on there, and he was chubby, greasy, poorly dressed and smelled really bad, with grody long hair
>tfw he made fun of your for reading Nietzsche
>but in the end you had a comfy discussion with him about thus spake zarathustra

dreams are nice

>> No.7926355

Have you fellas seen the movie where he is kidnapped? It is pretty comfy, you should watch it.