By James Camp 1/03/12 7:18pm

books

the-map-and-the-territory

Map Quest: Sex Gives Way to Self-Reflexivity in Michel Houellebecq’s New Novel

The name of the novelist Michel Houellebecq, with its little landslide of vowels, is less known in the United States than it is in France, his country of birth. But there, Mr. Houellebecq is a brand. Or at least he is an act. “I am about as ill-adapted as it is possible to be for a public role,” Mr. Houellebecq has written, and so, of course, he is a vivid public figure. Known for his attested habit of abruptly coming on to his female interviewers, he is also an epic smoker, an espouser of Sarkozy and a recluse. His surliness is a matter of public record. In 2002, Mr. Houellebecq was sued, and subsequently acquitted, for incitement of religious hatred, after calling Islam “the stupidest religion” in an interview. His mother wrote a whole book maligning him. The book is called L’Innocente. “It’s pretty scary that the old cow found a publisher,” the son responded in a book of his own. Read More

By Nate Freeman 11/09/10 11:37pm

Lit Nightlife

After Capturing Prix Goncourt, Michel Houellebecq Throws Wild Party to Celebrate

Yesterday, Michel Houellebecq won the ultra-prestigious Prix Goncourt — the highest honor bestowed upon a French writer — and in doing so silenced both his fervent detractors and obsessive fans who have clamored for years hoping he would win. So, being a Frenchman and a novelist, Michel Houellebecq had a party.

The event, as relayed to the uninvited masses Read More

By Regina Marler 5/29/06 12:00am

A Wearying Provocateur Baits Muslims, Jews, Women

Michel Houellebecq—the balding bad boy of French letters—has always written himself into his novels, giving his main characters his sad, unusual upbringing (his parents abandoned him and left him to be raised by his grandmother), his marital history, aspects of his employment history and even, in two instances, his name. His fourth novel, The Possibility Read More

By Regina Marler 5/29/06 12:00am

A Wearying Provocateur Baits Muslims, Jews, Women

Michel Houellebecq—the balding bad boy of French letters—has always written himself into his novels, giving his main characters his sad, unusual upbringing (his parents abandoned him and left him to be raised by his grandmother), his marital history, aspects of his employment history and even, in two instances, his name. His fourth novel, The Possibility Read More

By Benjamin Anastas 7/21/03 12:00am

Houellebecq’s Latest Outrage: Dangerous Gallic Provocation

Platform, by Michel Houellebecq. Alfred A. Knopf, 259 pages, $25.

It’s tempting to believe that Michel Houellebecq is not Europe’s most widely read and hotly debated contemporary novelist but is, instead, the central character in an elaborate satire of the literary marketplace written by a French novelist a lot like Michel Houellebecq. From his droll Read More