>Sylvia was behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Pajero Instyle, and to my utter stupefaction the seats were covered in fake leopard skin. The Mitsubishi Pajero (I learned from the special issue of Auto-Journal that I bought when I got home) is “one of the best recreational vehicles for handling back-country roads.” The Instyle model comes with leather upholstery, electric sunroof, back-up camera, and an 860-watt, twenty-two-speaker Rockford Acoustic audio system.
What's the deal with these weirdly specific product descriptions that seem like they're out of some car magazine?
I don't know. Michel always puts some wikipedia info on his books
he's pretty vaporwave desu
INTERVIEWER
You’ve said that you possibly had an American side to you. What is your evidence for this?
HOUELLEBECQ
I have very little proof. There’s the fact that if I lived in an American context, I think I would have chosen a Lexus, which is the best quality for the price. And more obscurely, I have a dog that I know is very popular in the United States, a Welsh Corgi. One thing I don’t share is this American obsession with large breasts. That, I must admit, leaves me cold. But a two-car garage? I want one. A fridge with one of those ice-maker things? I want one too. What appeals to them appeals to me.
Like Houellebecq, Martin's indifference to news and current affairs is matched by a compulsive interest in consumer goods.
At one point, the fictional Houellebecq tells Martin that in his "life as a consumer" he has known only three "perfect products": a pair of Paraboot shoes; a Canon computer-printer hybrid; and a "Camel Legend" parka coat.
'I loved these products, passionately. I could have spent life with them, re-buying them regularly as they wore out," he says.
In La Carte et le Territoire, we also get a glimpse of Houellebecq's ramshackle cottage near the River Shannon, a Lexus SUV, and an overgrown garden.
We are told he suffers from eczema and looks like an "old, sick tortoise"; loves charcuterie [cooked pork] and red wine; hates journalists and sunlight.
"It's true," the fictional Houellebecq says, "I derive only the feeblest sense of solidarity with the rest of the human species."
It is a fact that the real-life Houellebecq rarely appears without his beloved parka - but are the misanthropy and consumer-obsession genuine parts of his character? Or are they feigned for artistic purposes? Only his friends know for sure.
does this guy know American Psycho isn't a manual?
>>8276240
>thinking this kinda thing originated in american psycho
WEW
>>8276495
>implying this kind of thing was not exemplified in American Psycho
WEWEWEW
>>8276220
But his interest in the car isn't "compulsive", it's not affecting him deeply. It's cold and detached, a mechanical listing of features.
>>8276577
exemplified=/=originated
>>8275400
French writers like to do that now. Les Souvenirs by David Foenkinos is almost only overly precise descriptions and Spleen à l'Aéroport Roissy-Charles de Gaulle by Beigbeder is only questions describing what is going on.
>>8276240
Houellebecq isn't a great writer but he seems well-read, I doubt he gives a shit about American Psycho.
I like it. I don't like people saying 'a car', I want to picture the car.
We're people defined by our consumer choices, it's about time writers realise this tbqh.
>>8277300
Beigbeder's writing is pretty disappointing, desu. I've read both "Un roman français" and the one about WTC, they both strike me as perfect examples of boring upper-class burnout.
>>8277801
Beigbeder is pop literature, he's your typical Parisian douchebag poser. He gets invited on plebby TV shows and everything. You wasted your time reading him.
>>8277874
Technical and overly-detailed product descriptions? I dunno. Maybe Joyce?
>>8277874
Gaddis, but most influentially Pynchon. Delillo continued.
Maybe Celine, I haven't read him.
It's written this way as a degenerate, consumerized pastiche of the famous style of Balzac. Balzac would write masterful description of the pettiest things. Houellebecq uses this gimmick to describes the ugliest products of late capitalism in a purposefully bland and lifeless style, even using Wikipedia excerpts.
>>8278944
>Balzac would write masterful description of the pettiest things.
Example? I read Sarrasine and saw zero examples of this. It was mostly just a story about a man falling in love with a trap.
>>8279075
Sarrasine is one of his earliest works.
Check out Le Père Goriot or La Peau de Chargin.
>>8279129
Thanks friend. Reading Balzac will be a good way to practice my French too. ;)
