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Submission

by Michel Houellebecq, Lorin Stein (Translator)

3.63 · Rating Details · 8,639 Ratings · 1,121 Reviews

In a near-future France, François, a middle-aged academic, is watching his life slowly dwindle to nothing. His sex drive is diminished, his parents are dead, and his lifelong obsession – the ideas and works of the nineteenth-century novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans – has led him nowhere. In a late-capitalist society where consumerism has become the new religion, François is sp ...more

Hardcover, 246 pages

Published October 20th 2015 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (first published January 7th 2015)

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Nov 11, 2015 Manny rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: french, science-fiction, well-i-think-its-funny, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, older-men-younger-women, celebrity-death-match, islam-and-arabic

This week, on Dystopia! Michel Houellebecq discusses the future with Robert Heinlein

- Good evening, M. Houellebecq.

- Bonsoir, M. Heinlein. Alors, please, tell me your vision of the future.

- Sure. So Western civilization, it's already--

- --in a process of, ah, désintegration?

- You got it, buddy. As my old friend Cyril Kornbluth used to say, they breed faster than we do.

- Muslims, monsieur?

- People with low IQs. Same difference.

- Excusez-moi, monsieur, my novel is respectful towards the Muslim wor ...more

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Dec 10, 2015 RK-ique rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: french

Wow. Great satire ... of French ... of European ... of Western values ... or lack thereof. So well done that the irony often slips by unnoticed. Who the hell are we?

Soumission

So what do you call a novel about Muslims taking over control of France? A novel of generally cynical politics? A novel where women appear mostly in sexually explicit scenes and have little to say except in defining themselves in relation to men (some exceptions)? A novel where 15 year old girls become acceptable as second ...more

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Jan 19, 2015 ♥ Ibrahim ♥ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: thinkers-i-adore, french-in-my-heart

As a former Muslim, I see that Houellebecq is right on the money. I escaped Egypt my country in search of a land of freedom, and yet here oppression is chasing after me in the West. We love for Europe to be Europe. After all, that is why we left our mother countries in search of a more civilized world where human dignity is respected. By the way, please take a moment to read my story of conversion into Christianity and drop me a line and I will be your friend:
http://www.answering-islam.org/autho ...more

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Mar 04, 2016 Fionnuala added it · review of another edition

Recommended to Fionnuala by: Christmas present

Shelves: one-book-leads-to-another, read-in-french

I set out to read this book expecting to be provoked because in my experience Houellebecq is always hell-bent on provoking somebody, and very often that 'somebody' is of the opposite sex. I wasn’t disappointed this time; his narrator managed to provoke me right at the beginning, and regularly from then on, so I decided that the only way to review this book was with a full set of teeth on show!

But relax, my teeth are not ‘bared’, just revealed in a wide smile because the only way to take the twe I set out to read this book expecting to be provoked because in my experience Houellebecq is always hell-bent on provoking somebody, and very often that 'somebody' is of the opposite sex. I wasn’t disappointed this time; his narrator managed to provoke me right at the beginning, and regularly from then on, so I decided that the only way to review this book was with a full set of teeth on show!

But relax, my teeth are not ‘bared’, just revealed in a wide smile because the only way to take the twenty-first century part of this book is with a giant dose of humour. And there are some deliberately funny lines (at least I hoped they were deliberate). In fact, I enjoyed the book much more than I thought I would and it also lead me to read a book by a nineteenth century author, J-K Huysmans, a book I’ve owned for a while but hadn’t yet got around to reading. I actually paused the Houellebecq book half-way through in order to read À rebours from beginning to end, and I began to better appreciate the parallels between the two narrators' lives and experiences, although it isn’t at all essential for readers to read the Huysmans book since Houellebecq threads plenty of material about Huysmans' life and times into his twenty-first century story. To a certain extent, I felt Houelllebecq's narrator's engagement with Huysmans and other writers of the late-nineteenth century might have suited me better in a book with less of a political theme but I can see why he combined the Huysmans part with his contemporary tale as there are some apt comparisons between the two. In any case, taking a break from the modern-day story to visit the nineteenth century suited me very well and I was grateful to Houellebecq for the nudge to finally open À rebours (edit: according to the notes at the back of À rebours in which Huysmans speaks of a character called Jean Folantin from one of his earlier books, A Vau-l'Eau, I see that Folantin, more than the protagonist in À rebours, is the character who more closely resembles Houellebecq's narrator. They are both slightly hypochondriac single men, despondent at work, obliged to eat poor food alone, and who decide eventually to 'go with the flow' (à vau-l'eau) when a new way of life presents itself).

When his narrator is not contemplating the nineteenth century, Houellebecq allows him to zone in on various aspects of modern French life: the political system, the university system, and especially the politics within the university system. I enjoyed all that satire very much. However, I generally prefer satire to be delivered with a little more nuance than I found here. Houellebecq dropped so many over-obvious hints about the eventual outcome of his 2022 scenario that even though he held off from describing that outcome until the very last pages (underlining the huge importance he gave to the story elements), we knew almost from the beginning exactly how it would end. So not only a laboured plot but the labouring done at the expense of the satire, I felt.

There were also some very long turns by characters who appeared in the narrative just to make certain ideological points: the secret service agent, Alain Tanneur, for example, who is introduced twice just to make the case for one side of the book's principal argument; and the president of the Sorbonne university, Robert Rediger, who is twice brought on just to debate the other side of the argument - though I enjoyed the choice of name in Rediger’s case: the verb ‘rediger’ means ‘to write’ or ‘to write out formally’ and it is Rediger who gets to write out the guidelines for living (comfortably) in a French Muslim state; the satire in this part is quite well done but not taken as far as it might have been.

That was my main problem with this book, the scenario is really too mild in the end. I think Houellebecq had several great ideas here and might have written something more powerful. But to do that, he’d have had to ditch his narrator at the abandoned motorway stop in the first half of this story.
There! I ‘bared’ my teeth in spite of my good intentions… ...more

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Nov 18, 2015 Hadrian added it

Shelves: french, fiction

This is a case of a novel of ideas with the best (or worst) possible timing. The very day it was published in French was the day of the Charlie Hebdo shootings; a few short weeks after the English translation came out, Paris was attacked again.

Our protagonist, whose name I've already forgotten, is a professor of 19th century literature and an gormless slob who eats microwave food and hires prostitutes to lick his balls. He, like many Houellebecq protagonists, moves through life with a depressed This is a case of a novel of ideas with the best (or worst) possible timing. The very day it was published in French was the day of the Charlie Hebdo shootings; a few short weeks after the English translation came out, Paris was attacked again.

Our protagonist, whose name I've already forgotten, is a professor of 19th century literature and an gormless slob who eats microwave food and hires prostitutes to lick his balls. He, like many Houellebecq protagonists, moves through life with a depressed indifference. That is, until the 2022 elections and the fictitious Muslim Brotherhood Party edges out the Front National.

He is the 'main character', but his life is shaped by Muhammad Ben Abbes, who is the Nietzschean 'Übermensch' to our protagonists' 'Last Man'. He is charismatic, sharply intelligent, and the sort of man who makes other men surrender to him willingly. In this curious way, he is the strong leadership which the far right craves, with the exception that he leads a Muslim revitalization of Europe instead of a Christian one. Unemployment and crime plummet, political squabbles perish, Europe rises to challenge and equal the United States, and the nation is a unified, organic whole. With the exception of the new underclass, women. But our protagonist doesn't really care about them.

Houellebecq's dystopia is apparently not the one where the fictitious Muslim Brotherhood takes over; it's the one with an anemic market liberalism which makes any takeover possible, or preferable. You almost get the sense that Houellebecq would approve of any new regime (even if you consider the Margaret Atwood-esque fate of all the women). His deep pessimism parallels his professional subject, Huysmans - a move from decadent overindulgence to the comfort of belief. Whether that belief is sincerely held is another matter.

Houllebecq's study does not cover sharia law or fundamentalism or any of the caricatures of Muslims which haunt the media or political debate. It is a study of collaboration horizontale with a new regime. This is the sort of person who would willingly abandon their old France, leaving behind 'nothing to mourn' for the prospect of material gain. This is apparently the sort of person who would favor any extremism, any man who would covet arranged marriages and obedient slave-wives because any social movement for women is threatening. They are not so poor that they'd be on the edge of survival, but just well off enough to have time to be frustrated and miserable.

An interesting idea, but I wonder if people will discuss it for all the wrong reasons. ...more

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Jan 19, 2015 Yves Gounin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Il est de bon ton de critiquer le dernier Houellebecq.
Les fans des Particules élémentaires y voient une œuvre mineure, annonciatrice de l'inéluctable déclin du grand homme ; les contempteurs du prix Goncourt, un énième ressassement de sa veulerie beauf.

Je ne crierai pas avec les loups. Pour trois raisons.

1. Le style. Houellebecq écrit bien. Fichtrement bien. Avec l'air de ne pas y toucher. Et pourtant avec un perfectionnisme qui force d'autant plus l'admiration qu'il a l'humilité de ne pas se la ...more

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Feb 21, 2016 Ian Gabogovinanana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: frogs, reviews, reviews-4-stars, read-2015, houellebecq, huysmans

Sex, Religion and Politics

If you only read one book about sex, religion and politics this year, make sure it's this one!

It packs enormous punch into (far) less than 300 pages, raising the question yet again why novels need to be 562 or 1,376 pages long (and if they do on the basis of some subjective criterion, why they aren't written with such consistent verve, intelligence, wit and humour as "Submission").

For all the philosophy, this novel is paced like a mass market thriller or the screenplay ...more

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Dec 16, 2015 Maciek rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, read-in-2015, 2015-releases

Not only none of this sound scary, none of this sounded especially new.

Francois, the protagonist and narrator of Submission, is a man thoroughly burned out; although he teaches at the Sorbonne and is a specialist in the work of Joris-Karl Huysmans, he thinks little of his job and by his own admission has not done any important academic research in decades. At 44, He has no contact with his divorced parents, and no real, close friends; he eats TV dinners and browses porn sites. Francois seems una Not only none of this sound scary, none of this sounded especially new.

Francois, the protagonist and narrator of Submission, is a man thoroughly burned out; although he teaches at the Sorbonne and is a specialist in the work of Joris-Karl Huysmans, he thinks little of his job and by his own admission has not done any important academic research in decades. At 44, He has no contact with his divorced parents, and no real, close friends; he eats TV dinners and browses porn sites. Francois seems unable to form any meaningful relationship with anyone, especially women - although he is deeply lonely, he seems capable only of short flings with his much younger students. Francois feels that he is balancing on the verge of personal dissolution: he casually contemplates whether he should just commit suicide, as he simply cannot find meaning in anything. It is interesting to compare Francois to Mersault from Camus's The Stranger, which coincidentially I have read just before this book. Mersault is apathetic, and feels no emotion - but this is how he always was, and he knows no other way to live. In contrast, Francois feels a desperate yearning to feel something, but is unable to; Mersault feels bored and bothered by the world with its emphasis on emotion and feelings, while Francois feels betrayed by a world which does not give him anything or anyone that would make him feel. Both are very alone, but react to their loneliness very differently.

Besides Huysmans, Francois does not display any lasting passion or interest for anything, including his own country - in his own words he doesn't know much about it, and is in no way an engaged citizen. But even Francois cannot not notice the turmoil that is sweeping across France - after a series of political scandals, public trust in government is at an all time low. The two main candidates competing for votes in the presidential elections are polar opposites: Marine Le Pen from the National Front, and Mohammed Ben Abbes - creator of France's first openly Islamic party, the Muslim Brotherhood. As the two rivals go head to head in the polls, the charismatic Ben Abbes secures support of the Socialists, and eventually wins the election by a very slim margin.

France, a country famous across the globe for its secular society, legacy of enlightement and republican values, is now ruled by an openly Islamic party. Is this the end of history? Far from it. It's just the beginning. Abbes introduces as series of reforms, which drastically change the face of France: he combats the atomisation of society by emphasizing the importance and strength of traditional, patriarchal family - now encouraged to be polygamous comprised of marriages based on reason, and often arranged on economic grounds. Women are not forbidden to study at universities or enter the workforce, but they are encouraged to learn housekeeping and stay at home in exchange for generous state support. Abbes advocates a third way between capitalism and communism, a sort of state capitalism based on distributism. aiming to strenghten small businesses; institutions of higher education - including the Sorbonne - are privatized with money flowing in from rich Gulf states, with only Muslims allowed as teachers. Catholics and even Jews are also allowed to have their own schools which offer religious teaching - because the enemy is neither religion or spirituality, but the precise lack of it: secularism and atheism, which Abbes and his followers blame for the destruction of European culture and European values, and for creating chaos and misery.

The new regime is not only not opposed; citizens embrace it, as it gives them order and meaning which they have so deeply lacked. Unemployment plummets, and so does crime; fellow Islamic parties are on the rise in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Britain. The European Union is expanding southwards and southeast - with Turkey to join imminently, followed by Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, reaching across the sea further towards the Middle East. Through diplomacy alone and without shedding a drop of blood, Abbes is creating a new empire - uniting vastly different nations peacefully in a common political project, establishing withing a generation what has taken the ancient Romans centuries of conquest. This is not an empire built on suppression; societies are thriving, experiencing what is seen as a new Golden Age.

After the end of the Cold War and the collapse of Communism in eastern Europe, American political scientist Francis Fukuyama saw Western liberal democracy as the ultimate form of human government, with no possible alternative that could displace it. For Fukuyama, the end of the Cold War was also the end of history itself - the end of mankind's ideological evolution, with Western democracy being the pinnacle of human achievement, bound to eventually spread across the entire planet. For Fukuyama, the only threat to Western liberal democracy was radical Islam - but he saw radical Islamist ideology as unable to effectively control and govern a nation state, mostly because it is usually based on oppression of its own citizens and not attracting potential supporters. But the Islam in Submission is neither radical, nor oppressive; people are submitting to a soft theocracy out of their own volition, and vote Islamic politicians into office. They accept their reforms because they work, and bring them the results they want and desire. Here liberal democracy can be seen as not the greatest human achievement, but as the greatest tragedy - bringing about the freedom to pursuit happiness which never comes. Enlightenment is nothing but a collection of ideas which ultimately left us feeling empty and hollow. Human beings create civilizations because they need order, structure and meaning; Islam realizes the eternal dream of a good government.

In the vision of the future as realized in Submission a dystopia? Dystopias are based on submission based on force and terror, resulting in unhappiness or at best illusion of happiness, with protagonists usually rebelling against the new order at some point. I would argue that in Submission Houellebecq has created not a dystopia, but a genuine utopia - in which people live peacefully and are content, and whose rules they accept of their own free will. Their conversion is an act of hope - and a step towards a new and better society.

Submission is a very controversial, interesting and genuinely thought provoking book; in a stroke of deep and cruel irony it was published in France on the very day when armed Muslim fanatics killed 11 people at the headquarters of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The last issue before the attack had a cartoon of Houellebecq on the cover, Houellebecq - who has been taken to court for his criticism of Islam, which he called "the most stupid" of all monotheistic religions - is satirized as a seer, who predicts that in 2015 he'll loose his teeth, and in 2022 he'll observe Ramadan. Inshallah? ...more

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Oct 03, 2015 Paul Martin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015

Would a society based on "Moderate Islam" be such a bad thing?

This seems to be the kind of book that divides critics into the two equally useless camps:

1) This is islamophobic and racist garbage!
2) Bravo! A dark satire!

My view is that it's neither.

All Houllebecq is saying is that a completely secular society is like a vacuum. Given the opportunity, it will let itself be filled. If you don't want to risk it being filled with something you don't like, then you shouldn't have emptied it complete Would a society based on "Moderate Islam" be such a bad thing?

This seems to be the kind of book that divides critics into the two equally useless camps:

1) This is islamophobic and racist garbage!
2) Bravo! A dark satire!

My view is that it's neither.

All Houllebecq is saying is that a completely secular society is like a vacuum. Given the opportunity, it will let itself be filled. If you don't want to risk it being filled with something you don't like, then you shouldn't have emptied it completely in the first place.

With this in mind, Houellebecq goes on to show how the polarization in French politics could pave the way for a Muslim party to get into power, and what it could mean for the French population.

Returning to the question in the title - would that be a bad thing? Well, it turns out, not necessarily. From a perspective of power, comfort and freedom, at least not for ~~men~~ half the population. Or at least the heterosexual and educated part of it.

I don't see this novel as an attack on Islam. I am no expert on religion, but most of what he says about it seems to be accurate. If anything, he is merely pointing out that Islam as a religion is much more capable of social change due to it's hereditary element and ability to bind large amounts of people to it's cause - whether it's for "good" or "bad". The sense of cultural loss and inability to feel any sort of connection to your own roots which dominates the French secular society in Soumission (and perhaps also real life) appears as a no less bleak situation than what Islam offers, namely a life with meaning and a clear direction. The downside? ~~The return of the patriarchy~~Just some minor details concerning women's rights

Houellebecq is criticizing everyone and no one, really. He isn't pointing fingers of laying blame. He is merely pointing out that a secular society is fragile, very fragile, and that it to a certain extent has to be combined with a set of cultural values if it is to remain in place. Otherwise, it will slowly erode under the pressure of other ways of life, which in this case just happens to be Islam. For better or worse? Better for some and worse for others, like every other society in the history of mankind. Houellebecq doesn't presume to have the answer - he is simply saying that it will be different, and that it might very well happen. ...more

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Oct 23, 2015 Jonfaith rated it really liked it

Above our heads the linden branches stirred in the breeze. Just then, in the distance, I heard a soft, muffled noise like an explosion.

This wasn't the dystopia I had expected. Scandalous -- such was the domestic response to this alleged fragmentation grenade. Set a few years in the future, the Muslim Brotherhood in France forms a coalition and becomes ruling party -- but what exactly follows? Changes, for sure, but ones that often elude the eye. That is, however, from a man's perspective. Women ...more

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Jan 07, 2015 Yann rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: france, politique, fiction

C'est l'histoire d'un homme falot, malheureux et apathique qui embrasse une religion, non pas tant par conviction que par opportunisme. Finalement, comme il n'avait pas tellement de principes avant, ce n'est pas si terrible. Il y gagne même plutôt au change, en retrouvant un goût à la vie qu'il semblait avoir perdu.

Le tout prend place dans une anticipation politique dont j'étais très curieux de voir quelle forme allait être imaginée. C'est celle de la défaite des extrémistes, du triomphe de la ...more

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Mar 15, 2015 Arwen56 rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: romanzi, lett-francese, francia

Il romanzo è morto? A quanto pare sì. Vi consolerà, invece, sapere che le “scopate” godono di ottima salute. Le “seghe mentali” si piazzano a un dignitoso secondo posto. Ma si sa, ormai possono essere considerate praticamente degli evergreen. Il protagonista, al contrario, non si piazza proprio da nessuna parte. Perché non ha voglia di fare un “beato cazzo”. Neppure l’intellettuale, quale, in teoria, sarebbe.

Questo è stato il mio primo approccio a Houellebecq, e, come si può ben dedurre, non è c ...more

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Mar 30, 2016 Jan Rice rated it it was amazing

Shelves: politics, fiction, them-and-us, satire, alternative-futuristic-dystopian

(Originally reviewed March 6, 2016)

For years now, probably decades, Le Monde and all the other center-left newspapers, which is to say every newspaper, had been denouncing the "Cassandras" who predicted civil war between Muslim immigrants and the indigenous populations of Western Europe. The way it was explained to me by a colleague in the classics department, this was an odd allusion to make. In Greek mythology, Cassandra is a very beautiful young maiden ("like the golden Aphrodite," Homer wri

...more

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Sep 07, 2015 Teresa rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: n-frança

Esta review contém spoilers e linguagem obscena

Submissão é um livro que pode ser mau ou bom, triste ou divertido. Depende de quem o lê; ou de como o lê; ou de como o quer ler; ou se lê mais, ou lê menos do que aquilo que está escrito.
Lê-se bem e depressa; a escrita é simples e as letras são gordas.
A única estrela com que o avalio não reflete desprazer pela prosa, ou pela forma como o romance está estruturado, no entanto, o conteúdo...(nas pesquisas que fiz sobre Michel Houellebecq li que, qu ...more

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Dec 14, 2015 MJ Nicholls rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, pernod-and-gauloises, tortured-artists, new-in-2015

An amusing fictional mirroring of the life of Joris-Karl Huysmans: a misanthropic scholar, contemplating suicide, fed up of his philandering and hollow ways, over the hill in his career, unable to understand Huysmans’s Catholic conversion, follows the 2022 elections, where the Muslim Brotherhood come to power, leading our anti-hero into his own religious conversion, albeit for impure and perverted reasons. The novel contains nothing controversial about Islam—its worst sin is misinformation. Subm ...more

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Feb 13, 2016 Panagiotis rated it liked it · review of another edition

Για έναν συγγραφέα όπως ο Ουελμπέκ, τα συναισθήματα είναι ακραία μεταξύ των αναγνωστών: είτε τον λατρεύεις είτε τον απεχθάνεσαι. Την απέχθεια δεν την καταλαβαίνω, μα τα πράματα έτσι είναι και δεν μπορούν να είναι αλλιώς. Μιλώντας για ένα βιβλίο το Ουελμπέκ, λοιπόν, θεωρώ πως πρέπει να είναι ξεκάθαρη η αρχική θέση του αναγνώστη. Κι εγώ δηλώνω οπαδός του. Το βιβλίο αυτό το έπιασα μετά το μάλλον μέτριο «Ο Χάρτη και η Επικράτεια». Οι προσδοκίες μου ήταν ανάμεικτες και σαφώς επηρεασμένες από το ευρύτ Για έναν συγγραφέα όπως ο Ουελμπέκ, τα συναισθήματα είναι ακραία μεταξύ των αναγνωστών: είτε τον λατρεύεις είτε τον απεχθάνεσαι. Την απέχθεια δεν την καταλαβαίνω, μα τα πράματα έτσι είναι και δεν μπορούν να είναι αλλιώς. Μιλώντας για ένα βιβλίο το Ουελμπέκ, λοιπόν, θεωρώ πως πρέπει να είναι ξεκάθαρη η αρχική θέση του αναγνώστη. Κι εγώ δηλώνω οπαδός του. Το βιβλίο αυτό το έπιασα μετά το μάλλον μέτριο «Ο Χάρτη και η Επικράτεια». Οι προσδοκίες μου ήταν ανάμεικτες και σαφώς επηρεασμένες από το ευρύτερο κλίμα αποδοχής του βιβλίου: αντιδράσεις από όλες τις πλευρές για την θεματολογία του οι οποίες κλιμακώθηκαν με το αιματοκύλισμα της εφημερίδας Charlie Hebdo.

Τελικά;

Τελικά, ας τα πάρουμε από την αρχή. Ένας καθηγητής, στο Παρίσι του 2022, δίχως να περιμένει πολλά από την ζωή του, σκόρπιο σεξ, αποτυχημένες σχέσεις – μια γενικά μέτρια ζωή, όπως όλων μας- μας μεταφέρει τις εξελίξεις στην Γαλλική ζωή, αλλά και ακολούθως στον Ευρωπαϊκό χάρτη, καθώς το Μουσουλμανικό κόμμα παίρνει τα ηνία. Καλό; Νομίζω είναι ακριβώς αυτό που κάνει ο Ουελμπέκ σε όλα του τα βιβλία: μια εναλλακτική πραγματικότητα, μια ματιά σε ένα ίσως που μπορεί να μην είναι και τόσο απίθανο.

Το πιο καλό είναι πως ο καυστικός πεσιμισμός του, αυτός που αγαπάω, είναι δυνατός εδώ. Είναι παρών. Ήδη στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο, ο πρωταγωνιστής, αναρωτάται για τον σκοπό της ζωής και καταλήγει πως το να ζεις δίχως να το ψάχνεις και τελικά να πεθαίνεις, δίχως πάλι να το ψάχνεις, αρκεί στους ανθρώπους για να κάνουν τον κύκλο της ζωής τους. Ο ίδιος νιώθει πως πρέπει να δικαιώσει την παρουσία του επί της γης μα του πέφτουν λίγα τα ορόσημα της καριέρας του.

Στο βιβλίο γίνονται αναφορές σε διάφορες θεωρίες από κλάδους της φιλοσοφίας που επιστρατεύονται για να δικαιολογήσουν την πιθανή επάνοδο του μουσουλμανισμού. Και φυσικά αυτό το μάλλον εφιαλτικό όραμα του Ουελμπέκ για την τελικά παντοκρατορία αυτής της θρησκείας ως του μόνου συστήματος που θα μπορέσει να αντικαταστήσει τον σύγχρονο καπιταλισμό. Τον προσεγγίζει με τέτοιο τρόπο που ο αναγνώστης δεν θα βαρεθεί, αντιθέτως θα θέλει να μπει για λίγο στο μυαλό του Ουλμπέκ. Τάσεις που διαμορφώνονται στο μέλλον ή αποκτούν μια διακριτή σύσταση, καθώς και κινήματα και αντιδράσεις πάνω σε αυτές τις αλλαγές συνήθως δραματικές, είναι χαρακτηριστικά της θεματολογίας του κι εδώ είναι πιο ισχυρά από ποτέ.

Μάλλον, όμως, η γενική υπόθεση δεν λέει πολλά. Στο βιβλίο ελάχιστα πράγματα συμβαίνουν πέραν αυτών μέσα στο κεφάλι του ήρωα που γαμάει και προβληματίζεται πάνω στην ζωή – την δική του και των υπόλοιπων συνανθρώπων του, με τους οποίους μάλλον δεν θέλει και πολλά-πολλά. Είναι περισσότερο ένα μέσο για να ξεδιπλώσει ο Ουελμπέκ την ιοβόλα αφήγησή του. Σημεία όπως εκεί όπου αντιμέτωπος με την ματαιότητα της ζωής και το τέλμα του υλισμού γυροφέρνει τη αυτοκτονία καταλήγοντας σε ένα κρεσέντο απαξίωσης των συνανθρώπων του είναι που τον χαρακτηρίζουν μηδενιστή και μισάνθρωπο. Και φαλλοκράτη καθώς αναγκαστικά καταλήγει πως και η γυναίκα είναι συνάνθρωπος, αλλά σαφώς πιο δελεαστική και απαραίτητη, γιατί είναι κάτι πιο εξωτικό. Εγώ τον λέω ρεαλιστή, ευφυώς κυνικό και χιουμορίστα.

Διαβάζοντας το βιβλίο απόρησα με την υποδοχή και τον σάλο που δημιούργησε, φτάνοντας στα γεγονότα του Σαρλι. Βγαίνοντας ως εξώφυλλο ο συγγραφέας στο περιοδικό, οι φανατικοί Μουσουλμάνοι εξαγριώθηκαν – ήταν νωπές οι αναμνήσεις των δηλώσεών του περί του Ισλαμισμού ως την πιο ηλίθια θρησκεία. Έφτασαν ψηλά ιστάμενοι της κυβέρνησης –νομίζω ο ίδιος ο πρωθυπουργός- να αποκηρύξουν τις ιδέες του Ουελμπέκ ως μη συμβατές με το όραμα μιας Γαλλίας πολύ-πολυτισμικής. Ναι, πειράζει τον μουσουλμανισμό στο βιβλίο, μα όχι παραπάνω από όσο οτιδήποτε άλλο από τα ήθη και τις αξίες των δυτικών, μέχρι τη διάθεση μας να συνεχίσουμε να ζούμε. Τουναντίον, λιγότερο θα έλεγα. Δεν τον πυροβολεί. Τον αφήνει να σταθεί ως μια εναλλακτική προοπτική και μάλιστα την ανακατασκευάζει με πειθώ και επιμέλεια.

Κάθε φορά που ακούω σχόλια από κόσμο που εξοργίζεται με τον Ουελμπέκ ενισχύεται η άποψή μου πως ο κόσμος χωρίζεται σε αυτούς που έχουν χιούμορ και σε εκείνους που δεν έχουν. Κι εγώ ανήκω στους πρώτους, δίχως να θέλω να περιαυτολογήσω. Νομίζω όλοι οφείλουμε σε εάν βαθμό να βλέπουμε την ζωή μέσα από το πρίσμα της αμφισβήτησης και του σαρκασμού. Πρωτίστως, όμως ως αναγνώστες δεν πρέπει να ξεχνάμε πως ο συγγραφέας δεν ασπάζεται απαραίτητα όσα λένε οι ήρωές του, αλλά δοκιμάζει ιδέες. Πράγματα που του φαίνονται δελεαστικά και με δυσκολία τα εκστομίζει στην αληθινή ζωή, τα βάζει να τα πούνε τα δημιουργήματά του. Το αν συμφωνήσει ή μετανιώσει αργότερα, αυτό είναι κάτι που δεν με απασχολεί.

Το βιβλίο διαβάζεται ευχάριστα. Σχεδόν εθιστικά, γιατί έχει τον χειμαρρώδη λόγο του Ουελμπέκ. Δεν γίνονται πολλά πράματα, πέρα από τα οράματα των ανατροπών σε μια μακροκλίμακα. Μα μόνο για τις σκέψεις αυτές και την ωραία γραφή, αξίζει ένα 3άρι με τα όλα του. Το 3αρι του ευανάγνωστου που ίσως να ξεχαστεί, που αδυνατώ να του προσδώσω μεγαλύτερη αξία (πχ διαχρονική), αλλά που δεν παύει να αποτελεί ένα ενδεδειγμένο ανάγνωσμα. ...more

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Jan 20, 2015 capobanda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Fosse stato uno qualsiasi, ci avrebbe parlato di terroristi o di banlieu lasciandoci liberi di immaginare la soluzione del problema in termini di intelligence e ordine pubblico o di integrazione e sussidi.
Ma siccome è Michel Houellebecq, ossia da circa vent'anni uno dei più fastidiosi e lucidi analisti della condizione dell'individuo nel meraviglioso mondo del capitalismo avanzato (nonché il titolare di una delle più belle prose contemporanee, il cui ritmo interno rischia di non arrivare alle tr ...more

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Feb 13, 2016 Hanneke rated it liked it · review of another edition

Why do I always have to think of an iceberg when reading Houellebecq? It is that icy tone of voice in his writing while you sense that there is a vast amount of nasty coldness that stays hidden underneath. His dislike of women and, really, his disgust for mankind is always evident. I do admire though how he evokes in this novel a world that could be entirely possible. One could fit perfectly in this new world order if you do not care about your principles in any strong way. Francois, the protago ...more

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Oct 08, 2015 Sam Quixote rated it liked it · review of another edition

Michel Houellebecq’s latest novel Submission is set in France in 2022 where a Muslim political leader becomes President and Islamic law is established nationwide. Women must be veiled while their education and equality is curtailed, and polygamy is encouraged.

The protagonist is Francois, a middle-aged academic who teaches the work of nineteenth century novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans at the Sorbonne. A sad single man, Francois reminisces on the many former affairs he had with his students and feel ...more

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Oct 31, 2015 Barry Pierce rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 21st-century, read-in-2015

Set in Paris in 2022, a controversial Muslim leader wins the presidential election and introduces Islamic law throughout the country. An academic, François, now has to try and deal with a Paris in which all women must be veiled and his job at the Islamic University of Paris-Sorbonne is in jeopardy.

I really quite enjoyed this novel in the beginning. The translation is very good, the whole thing flows well. The musings of François are interesting if highly conceited and insufferable. I liked being ...more

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Dec 27, 2015 Το Άσχημο rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Είχα καιρό να γελάσω έτσι. Το κακιασμένο σχεδόν μισάνθρωπο χιούμορ του Ουελμπέκ τσακίζει κόκαλα. Δεν ξέρω αν είναι ταλαντούχος συγγραφέας, αλλά είναι σίγουρα μια παμπόνηρη αλεπού, που ξέρει τον τρόπο να σατιρίζει ανελέητα. Αντί να γράψει ένα έργο που να καταφέρεται ενάντια στο Ισλάμ γράφει ένα βιβλίο που φαινομενικά το εγκωμιάζει, το παρουσιάζει να επικρατεί και πετυχαίνει έτσι και τους Μουσουλμάνους να μην προσβάλλει και τους Δυτικούς να προβληματίσει. Βασικά τις γυναίκες. Να κάτσω εγώ να φορέσ Είχα καιρό να γελάσω έτσι. Το κακιασμένο σχεδόν μισάνθρωπο χιούμορ του Ουελμπέκ τσακίζει κόκαλα. Δεν ξέρω αν είναι ταλαντούχος συγγραφέας, αλλά είναι σίγουρα μια παμπόνηρη αλεπού, που ξέρει τον τρόπο να σατιρίζει ανελέητα. Αντί να γράψει ένα έργο που να καταφέρεται ενάντια στο Ισλάμ γράφει ένα βιβλίο που φαινομενικά το εγκωμιάζει, το παρουσιάζει να επικρατεί και πετυχαίνει έτσι και τους Μουσουλμάνους να μην προσβάλλει και τους Δυτικούς να προβληματίσει. Βασικά τις γυναίκες. Να κάτσω εγώ να φορέσω την μπούργκα και να υποχρεωθώ να υπηρετώ μαζί με άλλες συν-συζύγους τον άντρα μου; Ναι καλά. Κορίτσια θα κάνουμε το σουτιέν μας σφεντόνα και όποιον πάρει ο χάρος.

Η “Υποταγή” πετυχαίνει να ξυπνά την επαναστατική διάθεση ακόμα και στην πιο υποταγμένη και υποχωρητική γυναίκα. Και το πετυχαίνει με διαολεμένα υπόγειο τρόπο. Στο σερβίρει ζεστό, σαν αναπόδραστη πραγματικότητα, πασπαλισμένο με ακαταμάχητα ευφυολογήματα και στο τέλος σε αφήνει με την αίσθηση πως αντί για τα άκρα, πρέπει να επικρατήσει εδώ και τώρα ένας τίμιος και ανοιχτός διάλογος για αυτό το φλέγον θέμα, χωρίς τις ξεπερασμένες και σάπιες ρητορικές του περασμένου αιώνα.

Ένα από τα πολλά θέματα που θίγει είναι ο θεσμός της οικογένειας. Δεν ξέρω πως έχει η κατάσταση στη Γαλλία, γιατί στην Ελλάδα ο θεσμός αυτός λειτουργεί ακόμα αποτελεσματικά, σε πρακτικό επίπεδο, δεδομένης και της οικονομικής κρίσης αλλά και σε συναισθηματικό. Άλλο θέμα είναι η στάση της αριστεράς, που εθελοτυφλεί και ξεπουλάει τις αξίες της για λίγη εξουσία και της δεξιάς που κατακρημνίζεται στις ιδεολογικές αγκυλώσεις της, του χριστιανισμού που δεν καλύπτει τις ανάγκες του σύγχρονου ανθρώπου, και της αδυναμίας των πολιτών να παρέμβουν δυναμικά – παραμένουν θεατές, σε ένα ριάλιτι που τους τέρπει και αγχώνονται μόνο μπροστά στο ενδεχόμενο να χάσουν τη βολή τους.

Δεν υπάρχει κανένας λόγος ανησυχίας. Το Ισλάμ είναι υπερβολικά διασπασμένο για να κατακτήσει τον κόσμο. Οι ίδιοι οι αρχηγοί του το έχουν ήδη πουλήσει στον βωμό των δικών τους συμφερόντων. Το Ισλάμ δεν μπορεί να εξασφαλίσει την κοινωνία αφθονίας που απεικονίζεται στο μυθιστόρημα του Ουελμπέκ. Κι αυτό άλλωστε εξηγεί και το προσφυγικό ρεύμα των βασανισμένων ανθρώπων που ζητούν, όχι να κατακτήσουν, αλλά να ξεφύγουν από αυτήν την παράνοια.

Άλλωστε η Γαλλία, δεν είναι μοναχικό νησί επάνω σε αυτόν το πλανήτη. Το παράδειγμα της Οθωμανικής αυτοκρατορίας που δεν κατάφερε σε βάθος αιώνων (αλλά και των προγενέστερων αραβικών χαλιφάτων) να αφομοιώσει άλλους λαούς – αναφερομαι σε αυτούς που επαναστάτησαν και τελικά πέτυχαν ανεξαρτησία, στην Ευρώπη και στα Βαλκάνια αλλά και σε όσους εντός του Ισλάμ απέτυχαν να αποκτήσουν την συνείδηση μιας πολιτικής ενότητας - είναι η απόδειξη πως ούτε με το καλό ούτε με την βία μπορείς να εξαναγκάσεις τους ανθρώπους να ασπαστούν κάτι που απέχει από το πολιτισμικό σημείο αναφοράς τους.

Πέρα από την θεωρία, στην πράξη μια μετάβαση για να επικρατήσει και να έχει διάρκεια πρέπει να πηγαίνει από το χειρότερο στο καλύτερο. Οτιδήποτε συνιστά υποβάθμιση φέρνει αργά ή γρήγορα την αντίδραση και την απόρριψη. Και το Ουελμπεκικό σύμπαν είναι έτσι δομημένο ώστε να καταδικάζει το 50% της ανθρώπινης κοινωνίας στο σκοτάδι. Πόσο να κρατήσει μια τέτοια παράνοια; ...more

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Sep 24, 2015 Matt rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: media-ebooks, push-fake-morals, rez-auf-deutsch

Die Prämisse dieses Buchs habe ich für ausreichend interessant erachtet, um es mir zu kaufen. Leider hat mich der jüngste Roman von Michel Houellebecq in mehrerlei Hinsicht enttäuscht.

Ich-Erzähler dieser Geschichte ist François, Professor für Literaturwissenschaft an einer Universität in Paris im Jahre 2022. Bei der Präsidentenwahl in Frankreich erlangt die islamische Partei der Muslimbrüder überraschend die zweit meisten Stimmen und kann in einer Koalition mit den Sozialisten die Regierung bild Die Prämisse dieses Buchs habe ich für ausreichend interessant erachtet, um es mir zu kaufen. Leider hat mich der jüngste Roman von Michel Houellebecq in mehrerlei Hinsicht enttäuscht.

Ich-Erzähler dieser Geschichte ist François, Professor für Literaturwissenschaft an einer Universität in Paris im Jahre 2022. Bei der Präsidentenwahl in Frankreich erlangt die islamische Partei der Muslimbrüder überraschend die zweit meisten Stimmen und kann in einer Koalition mit den Sozialisten die Regierung bilden und dabei sogar den Präsidenten stellen. Natürlich bedeutet dies umwälzende Änderungen in dem (nun ehemals) laizistischen Land. François beschließt daher, aus Angst vor möglichen Unruhen, Paris für eine Weile zu verlassen und aufs Land zu flüchten.

Die Sprache des Protagonisten ist recht einfach, um nicht zu sagen einfältig. Außerdem ist sie oftmals unflätig und eines Literaturwissenschaftlers eigentlich nicht würdig, wie ich meine. Das Bild des Protagonisten als Hochschullehrer passt einfach nicht zu seiner Sprache. Ich würde ja die Tatsache akzeptieren, dass dieser François einige diametral entgegengesetzte Einstellungen zu mir selbst hat (um in seiner Sprache zu bleiben: er ist ein Arschloch), hätte diese dann aber gerne in einer mir angenehmen Form präsentiert bekommen. So wirkt der Typ einfach nur unsympathisch, und ich finde auch sonst keine Person (Freund oder Feind), an die ich mich in diesem Buch halten kann. Es gibt übrigens auch zwei oder drei recht ausführliche Beschreibungen des Beischlafs (Professor mit Studentin), die mir keine Röte ins, dafür aber ein Gähnen aufs Gesicht gebracht haben. Für die Bezeichnung von weiblichen und männlichen Genitalien beispielsweise lässt der Autor den Protagonisten nur zwei unterschiedliche Worte finden, und beide würde ich eher an einem Stammtisch erwarten, als von einem Literaten.

Abgesehen von dem Nicht-Protagonisten muss natürlich auch das Thema "islamische Gesellschaft" erwähnt werden. Auch hier hat das Buch meine Erwartungen nicht erfüllt. Die Auswirkungen der politischen Umwälzung in Frankreich (und Europa) fallen mir zu mager beschrieben aus. Viele Dinge werden nur gestreift, andere, wie zum Beispiel die Polygamie, unnötig hervorgehoben. Das Buch als "islamophob" zu bezeichnen halte ich dagegen für absolut falsch. Eher umgekehrt. Kritik am Islam ist zwar grundsätzlich auch zwischen den Zeilen zu lesen, aber es überwiegt doch die Kritik am westlichen Kulturkreis, und dort insbesondere an den Intellektuellen im Hochschulbetrieb.

Ich denke, ich hätte eventuell mehr von dem Buch gehabt, wenn ich gewisse Voraussetzungen erfüllt hätte: Kenntnis der französischen Innenpolitik und der Medien. Ersteres habe ich sogar ein wenig, letzteres leider gar nicht. Außerdem intime Kenntnis der französischen Literatur, insbesondere des Werkes von Huysmans, und hiervon den Roman "Gegen den Strich". Diese Buch habe ich leider nicht gelesen. Andernfalls wären vielleicht wenigstens einige Gedanken des Professors besser nachvollziehbar gewesen.

Vielleicht bin ich zu altmodisch, wenn ich von einem Roman auch immer ein wenig Unterhaltungswert erwarte. Oder waren am Ende meine Erwartungen zu hoch gesteckt und der Autor ist womöglich gar kein richtiger Literat? Zugegebenermaßen bin ich, was Monsieur Houellebecq angeht, ein unbeschriebenes Blatt. Dies war mein erstes Buch von ihm. Er gilt ja wohl auch als ein Provokateur, was ich grundsätzlich für gut halte. Aber von diesem Buch bin ich noch nicht einmal anständig provoziert worden. Immerhin weiß ich nun, wie der Name des Autors geschrieben und ausgesprochen wird. Ist ja auch etwas.

PS: Dies war das bislang mit Abstand teuerste Buch für meinem Kindle und hat damit den unrühmlichen Titel des Buches mit dem geringsten Preis/Leistungsverhältnis errungen.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. ...more

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Jun 02, 2015 Sorin Hadârcă rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Mai întâi de toate trebuie să admit că e o carte de care te dezlipești cu un efort supra-omenesc - am citit-o în trei șederi, cele 300 de pagini fiind ca și neexistente. În plus, premonițiile lui Houellebecq sunt ai naibii de realiste, criza democrațiilor consumeriste nu e una ficțională, iar mișcările tectonice dictate de schimbările demografice trag după sine schimbări esențiale în modul în care-i organizată lumea nostră. Dincolo de toate, o lectură revigorantă care m-a absorbit pe de-a-ntregu ...more

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Jan 03, 2016 Tasos rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Στο καλύτερο βιβλίο του, ο αγαπημένος μισάνθρωπος Ουελμπέκ έχει ακονίσει πλέον τον κυνισμό του σε σχεδόν σοκαριστικό σημείο οξύτητας και διορατικότητας, τα γεγονότα άλλωστε με τα οποία συνέπεσε η έκδοση του βιβλίου (και στην πρωτότυπη γλώσσα και στη δική μας) ήταν απλώς η επαλήθευση.

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Nov 18, 2015 João Carlos rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: l2015

Charlie Hebdo (7 de Janeiro 2015)

Depois de ler o primeiro romance do controverso e irascível escritor francês Michel Houellebecq (n. 1956) ”Extensão do Domínio da Luta” (1994) o seu último livro ”Submissão” (2015) suscitou-me um interesse crescente, uma vez que foi publicado em França, no início de Janeiro de 2015, num dos momentos mais dramáticos da sociedade francesa, com o ataque terrorista à redacção do semanário satírico Charlie Hebdo do qual resultaram doze mortos e que tinha feito capa co ...more

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Mar 23, 2015 Stephen Durrant rated it liked it · review of another edition

Many readers have read “naughty boy” Michel Houellebecq’s latest novel as an Islamophobic diatribe. I don’t agree. Houellebecq has been justifiably criticized for earlier comments about Islam and surely “Soumission” does cater to the increasing French concern that what happened near Poitiers in 732 CE was only, for Islam, a temporary setback, but the real targets of his satire here are French politicians and French professors. In fact, one can read this as one of France’s relatively rare “academ ...more

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Jan 11, 2015 Stéphane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Soumission est le Brave New World de notre siècle,une fiction d'anticipation qui révèle davantage les peurs d'une population (masculine, quadragénaire et française) et d'une époque qu'une vision vraisemblable de l'avenir du pays. Houellebecq propose une fable glauque, brillante, intelligente, érudite, lugubre, mais aussi très drôle par moment, que les événements de ces derniers jours viennent en grande partie contredire.
La France n'est ni apathique, ni épuisée, ni prête à la soumission ... mais, ...more

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Dec 02, 2015 Erika rated it liked it

Shelves: books-read-in-2015

Francois is a middle-aged college professor living in Paris. He's an empty, depressing sort of guy who only seems to perk up for food or sex. He has no real community, and his sole relationship--an on-again-off-again thing with a 22-year old student--is going nowhere.
When various machinations bring the Muslims to power, all of France falls under religious rule almost overnight. Francois loses his job since only Muslims can teach at government-funded schools, but he’s welcome to return if he’s w ...more

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Mar 23, 2016 Liz Janet rated it liked it · review of another edition

“Only literature can grant you access to a spirit from beyond the grave—a more direct, more complete, deeper access than you’d have in conversation with a friend.”

That is as far as I agree with Michel Houellebecq’s views, and for that I was a bit fuzzy if I should read this book or not. In one hand, it sounded brilliant, in the other, Islamophobic. But I picked it up anyways, and now I rest in a limbo, a fun in-between a well written novel and a ridiculous view of Islam.

Now, this book is set i “Only literature can grant you access to a spirit from beyond the grave—a more direct, more complete, deeper access than you’d have in conversation with a friend.”

That is as far as I agree with Michel Houellebecq’s views, and for that I was a bit fuzzy if I should read this book or not. In one hand, it sounded brilliant, in the other, Islamophobic. But I picked it up anyways, and now I rest in a limbo, a fun in-between a well written novel and a ridiculous view of Islam.

Now, this book is set in 2022 France, after a peaceful Muslim-Socialist takeover, and how society, and particularly the main character François, abandons their “basic beliefs” for a life of pleasure that will benefit them.

-François is a purposeless and disillusioned professor, on a desperate need to get sex, with a young comforting body, "since my erections were rarer and less dependable and required bodies that were firm, supple and flawless." He starts off in this society as a bit discredited, until he is told to convert to Islam and to teach, with the promise of two young birds to warm his bed. Now who would say no to that? Definitely not him, because he wants sex. What everyone seems to bring about at this point is that this change into a “religious” person is compared to what Joris-Karl Huysmans,whose François is an expert on, did, converting to Catholicism after a life as an atheist. There is also the fact that Huysmans converted back because he might have truly believed, while François did not.

-I enjoyed that this book, at the beginning, was not about radical Islam, but rather a charming moderate prime minister, and his peaceful rise to power, in an attempt to stop some right-wing party to win the election instead. Later on is when the plot of the novel changes to a more radicalized world. France forgoes separation of church and state, to the point non-Muslims cannot teach at public universities. From a religion that gave rights to women before Western society even caught on what women’s rights were, to a society where women have very little education and are encouraged to go through arranged marriages from the ages of 15 and onward; and this is one of the main issues I had. There is nothing against basic human rights in Islam, unless you are a radical with some insane views that have nothing to do with Islam but rather with a crazy dictator, but here, a practically liberal society turns into a religious fundamentalist world, a mild one, but one nonetheless. It even makes this comparison between women from the West and East : “Hidden all day in impenetrable black burkas, rich Saudi women transformed themselves by night into birds of paradise with their corsets, their see-through bras, their G-strings with multicolored lace and rhinestones. They were exactly the opposite of Western women, who spent their days dressed up and looking sexy to maintain their social status, then collapsed in exhaustion once they got home, abandoning all hope of seduction in favor of clothes that were loose and shapeless.” I just do not care for what other people choose to wear as long as no one is naked, and I felt like this was a generalization that did not favour Western women.

-It was a bit lazy that we are never completely told how things came to change so fast, maybe it would have given more credibility to the story.

And that is as much as I can say so far on the book, I have to wait a bit longer to add to this review, since my mind is a bit jumbled. ...more

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Aug 02, 2015 Jorge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

El autor contemporáneo francés Michele Houellebeqc nos deleita nuevamente con esta obra desplegando su punzante y corrosivo estilo lleno de humor que hace muy disfrutables sus novelas. El autor reafirma su calidad en la creación en este género de literatura y ahora mezcla magistralmente la vida política, religiosa y social en la Francia del siglo XXI con la obra y el pensamiento de Jan- Karlis Huysmans. También pone de manifiesto, a través de su personaje, esa profunda relación que el siente con El autor contemporáneo francés Michele Houellebeqc nos deleita nuevamente con esta obra desplegando su punzante y corrosivo estilo lleno de humor que hace muy disfrutables sus novelas. El autor reafirma su calidad en la creación en este género de literatura y ahora mezcla magistralmente la vida política, religiosa y social en la Francia del siglo XXI con la obra y el pensamiento de Jan- Karlis Huysmans. También pone de manifiesto, a través de su personaje, esa profunda relación que el siente con Huysmans.

La novela pone de relieve eventos políticos de gran envergadura en la Francia de este siglo que dan como resultado un golpe de timón en la política, la religión y la sociedad que terminan por trastocar la educación, la ideología y el futuro no sólo de Francia sino de toda la Europa occidental.

A pesar de que el tema de fondo de la novela es una Francia tomada por el Islam en el año 2020, lo anterior no impide que el autor se suma en sus reflexiones vitales y filosóficas. Parece ser que el sentimiento de soledad y de falta de amor está profundamente arraigado en Michel Houellebecq, o al menos esa impresión me da en las tres novelas que he leído de él. Estos temas asoman fugazmente en la narración, aparecen sólo como una sombra oscura sobre la gran y brillante superficie que supone el argumento principal, pero no deja de ser una sombra que se hace presente y que aparece de manera intermitente durante el libro. Pareciera una sombra un tanto quejumbrosa y tal vez dolorosa surgida del fondo de su ser y que necesita salir a la superficie plasmada en las páginas de sus obras.

Aunque tocada de manera tangencial otra idea sustantiva es el sinsentido de la vida, también recurrente en él y sucintamente plantea una pregunta que a muchos nos deja sin respuesta: ¿Cuál es la justificación de la vida? Parece sencilla y trillada la cuestión pero cuando él la plantea toma un sesgo angustiante.

La transformación tanto del mundo como de la sociedad y de las personas asoma como otro tema para reflexionar, ya que en el trasfondo de la narración nos describe brevemente el proceso de metamorfosis mística de Huysmans, así como el intento del personaje de convertirse a la ideología de la actual Francia y de hecho la total transformación en curso que se está dando en Francia y en Europa occidental. La vida es transformación constante. Ahora recuerdo nuevamente aquella sencilla pero contundente frase de Michel de Montaigne en la que nos dice que los humanos somos “ondoyant et divers” que es algo así como cambiantes y diversos.

Obviamente el tema religiosos se toca con amplitud pero no con profundidad dada la complicación que de por sí ofrece esta materia. Para este efecto, Houellebecq recurre mucho al pensamiento y al debate intelectual y moral de Huysmans, estableciendo un paralelismo religioso entre este autor y el protagonista de la narración, tomando y narrando brevemente el proceso de reconversión al catolicismo de Huysmans cuando se recluye voluntariamente en el monasterio de Liguge y hacia el final del libro es cuando surge este paralelismo cuando el protagonista duda y se cuestiona si él, en su calidad de ateo, pudiera convertirse al Islam.

Sobre este tema el protagonista se plantea vagamente algunos cuestionamientos sobre el Islam que resultan interesantes destacando su aserto que describe cómo es que los partidos políticos del Islam empiezan a tomar sólidas posiciones no solamente en Francia, sino en algunas otras partes de Europa, la tesis la fundamenta en que los partidos políticos están desunidos y fracturados por diferencias políticas en su seno ya que estos partidos solamente se encuentran unidos por sus plataformas políticas que pueden irse fracturando en el camino por surgir diferentes puntos de vista en las doctrinas políticas; por contra a los partidos del Islam los une algo más profundo e íntimo que los hace permanecer muy unidos: la religión, ese cuerpo místico y sobrenatural.

Es patente el contraste que se percibe entre las revueltas políticas y sociales que se relatan y que tienen lugar en varias partes de Francia debido a la toma del poder por parte del Islam y el ambiente sereno y lleno de paz que se desprende de la meditación contemplativa en el Monasterio de Liguge en el cual estuvo Huysmans durante su sufriente y dubitativo proceso de conversión y al que acude el protagonista para tratar de encontrar algunas respuestas. Sin duda el contenido de este capítulo es bello y reflexivo.

Dentro de la novela hay un sinnúmero de frases muy bien logradas, incluso llenas de belleza. Hay una en especial que me llamó la atención porque creo la comprendí a cabalidad y me hizo creer verdaderamente en la conexión que se puede dar a través de los libros con otras personas: “La Literatura te conecta con el espíritu de una persona, incluso con el espíritu de personas muertas”.

La obra me parece sumamente amena ya que el protagonista-autor nos cuenta algunos pasajes de su vida, una vida solitaria pero llena de cinismo y que sirve como medio para introducirnos poco a poco al mundo del Islam pero en el fondo subsiste en su yo más interior el sentimiento de soledad y de falta de amor. La obra también se encuentra atravesada por algunas ideas del inefable Frederich Nietzsche, que siempre es traído a la palestra cuando de cristiandad se trata.

Por último me parece que el título del libro se explica por una mención que hace el autor acerca de la forma de vida de las mujeres musulmanas. Lo que brevemente nos dice sobre este aspecto es que la cumbre de la felicidad humana reside en la sumisión más absoluta y la sumisión del hombre a Dios tal y como lo entiende el Islam.
...more

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About Michel Houellebecq

Michel Houellebecq (born Michel Thomas), born 26 February 1958 (birth certificate) or 1956 on the French island of Réunion, is a controversial and award-winning French novelist. To admirers he is a writer in the tradition of literary provocation that reaches back to the Marquis de Sade and Baudelaire; to detractors he is a peddler of sleaze and shock. Having written poetry and a biography of the h ...more

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