What does /lit/ think of Houellebecq's new novel? My thoughts are mainly positive. In fact, I think it is likely his greatest achievement.
>>7406851
It's shit. Been said before, been done before, and references to JK Huysmans and Bloy don't bring Hollaback closer to them by a iota. Like everything else he's ever written, it perspires laziness, preconceived ideas and a pathological reluctance to any form of beauty
>>7406868
>Been said before, been done before.
Source?
>>7406886
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decline_of_the_West
Houellebecq seriously needs to get over his >muh depression if he really wants to contribute anything worthwile to literature one day. Some french novelists were alreaedy ahead of him 100 years ago. Most french novelists are a millenium ahead of him today (Michon, Quignard, Echenoz, Bon,...)
>>7406868
I'm not sure that the intention was to come close to Huysmans and Bloy. They're simply a way of conjuring up Western decadence as a political point of view. We have to remember that Western decadence at the end of the 18th century gave way to the Apocalypse of WWI; that decadence always leads to decay or even violent destruction.
>>7406851
Fun read, I would become a muslim too, 3 young wives and 10K salary.
>>7406898
No one knows those authors m8, they're not even big enough to occupy a niche. Why would anyone think them relevant or better
>>7406917
>Why would anyone think them relevant or better
Same way any sane mind would pick Racan and Voiture over Marot and Rutebeuf: Because they're better than him. No matter what sells, buddy... posterity always bring justice
>>7406851
I think it is bad, the prose below mediocre, as usual with him, and the theme lazily treated. (I haven't read it though)
>>7406972
Kek. The prose is actually very strong compared to some of his other works. I recommend reading it.
>>7406971
>No matter what sells, buddy
you seem to think this is a matter of mainstream audience vs niche, it's not, literally like 200 people have read those authors you're describing. Oh by the way my fiction is nobel-worthy, only my mom has read it though
>>7406851
like it so far
But I love how it puts reviewers on egg shells, That is might be right wing novel and they don't know how to review it cuz of that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4LXMR-RdQQ&ab_channel=NewYorkInstitutefortheHumanitiesatNYU
>>7407017
>you seem to think this is a matter of mainstream audience vs niche
I don't, it's a matter of taste
>literally like 200 people have read those authors you're describing
In America ? Probably. In the french speaking world anyone who's interested in prose reads- and reveres- those authors.
>Oh by the way my fiction is nobel-worthy
Who gives a fuck, prizes are generally laughed off by the french-speaking public as major editor's auction buys. No one will tell you this years' Goncourt prize is worth a read, for example.
>>7406898
>he conflates progressiveness with value
laughinggirls.jpeg
>>7407103
france is irrelevant though
So basically nobody ITT has finished the book?
>>7406898
Knausgard thinks Houellebecq is a genius.
>>7407087
Thank you for this.
>>7407190
the only thing that sucks is NONE of them know how to use a mic
>>7407207
"uuuh" "uh" "uh" "uuuh" "uuh" "ah" "uuh"
focking americans
>>7407329
truesay. I also hate how university professors always do that twisting motion with their index finger and thumb when they describe something. It's such a cliche affectation.
>>7407343
Twisting motion with their index finger and thumb?
>>7407554
You obviously haven't attended enough liberal arts talks.
>>7407554
yes it is almost as if they are magicians who wave wand isn't it?
>>7408367
more like they are twisting a large screw into a hole.
The novel is a satire. For some reason reminds me of Voltaire's Candide.
>>7409241
Oh snap, almost thirty replies in and a first person who read it actually turns up, nice /lit/.
>>7407087
Eric Banks puts way too much effort into his hair
In all due honesty, thank you for your recommendation of this novel. I'm halfway through and have thoroughly enjoyed it more than almost anything I've read this year.
I just finished Map and Territory and I liked it. I might try Submission next year. Houllebecq is interesting to me because he clearly has big artistic ambitions but at the same time he doesn't subscribe to the standard ideas of what makes a novel truly literary and great. Sometimes it pays off sometimes it doesn't but I like that about him.
