Michel Houellebecq: A Man, A (Sub)Mission

Abstract

Michel Houellebecq, the most controversial author of contemporary French literature, seems to be devoted to a single, unwavering mission: to be “truthful” at any cost. An observer and painter of modern society in all its states, the author of Soumission fits into a literary tradition that dates back to the 19th century, thus extending the fictions of Balzac, Zola, and Huysmans. From his predecessors, Houellebecq inherits a certain taste for controversy, a talent that naturally makes waves in the press. The role played by documentation and the figure of the bachelor helps position the writer in the wake of the realist-naturalist tradition.