Event overview
Launch of special issue of Modern and Contemporary France: ‘La France ce n'est pas Michel Houellebecq’
Few other living writers currently have more relevance to events in their native countries than Michel Houellebecq, whose association with the increasingly anxious domestic politics of France has only increased since the publication of his debut novel, Extension du domaine de la lutte (1994). Often regarded as a prophetic writer, Houellebecq writes novels that speak to, even if they do not represent in any straightforward sense, many prevailing political anxieties in contemporary France—so much so that his latest work, Sérotonine (2019) has been dubbed a ‘gilet jaune’ novel. Shortly after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Manuel Valls declared that France was not, unlike its most famous writer, intolerant and xenophobic--‘La France, ce n’est pas la soumission, la France, ce n’est pas Michel Houellebecq. La France, ce n’est pas l’intolérance, la haine, la peur’, recognising the fact that Houellebecq, for better or for worse, has become the emissary, or a reluctant cultural ambassador, for an idea of France in ways not witnessed since Sartre and Camus. The contributors will address questions of religion, the ‘thinning of the literary’, capitalism and evolution, the politics of food, déclinisme and reactionary thought in Houellebecq’s writing.
Speakers:
Ruth Cruickshank, Royal Holloway
Niall Sreenan, KCL
Carole Sweeney, Goldsmiths,
Russell Williams, American University of Paris
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Feb 2019 | 6:00pm - 8:00pm |
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