2015

[Mark Thibodeau]

New Houellbecq?! AWESOME! The Map and the Territory was a triumph (as was
Atomised). I'll be reading Sousmission in the original French if at all
possible (I'm French Canadian).

A Rebours is incredible - one of the best things I've read in the last
decade (along with Day of the Locusts, Death in Venice and (coincidentally)
The Elementary Particles (Atomised).

Once you're done A Rebours, try to find Huysmann's other great work, La Ba
(Down There).

Mark / Jerky

On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 5:47 AM, Kai Frederik Lorentzen <lorentzen at hotmail.de
> wrote:

>
> The new novel of Michel Houellebecq!
>
> *Soumission* will be published in French on Wednesday and a week later in
> German (don't know about the English edition). In preparation for this
> book, I'm currently rereading Huysmans' "A Rebours" in translation.
> Houellebecq's last novel, "The Map and the Territory", was very very good,
> and me I definitely don't want to wait with this new one, so I'll start my
> read the minute the package arrives.
>
> Already by now this book, whether Houellebecq wanted it or not, is pouring
> oil into the fierce debate about the role of Islam in Europe. The
> interesting thing seems to be, as Sandra Kegel's review in yesterdays's FAZ
> points out, that Houellebecq is constructing kinda cultural liasion between
> islamists and right wing nihilists on issues like polygamy or women's right
> to vote. This is, of course, a literary fantasy and, thus, especially
> instructive. And according to Kegel the book is of highest literary
> quality. So surely interesting enough to give it an honest try. You may
> differ on this.
>
>
> http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/01/02/scare-tactics-michel-houellebecq-on-his-new-book/
>
> *"In general, there is a much stronger feeling of entropy than in my other
> books."*
>
>
> http://themodernnovelblog.com/2015/01/03/michel-houellebecq-soumission-submission/
>
> > This novel has received considerable pre-publication publicity because
> of its controversial subject matter. The book, set in 2022, follows
> François, a university professor who teaches nineteenth century French
> literature in the University of Paris III and is a specialist on the
> writer, J-K Huysmans. At the previous French presidential election, the
> run-off was between the Socialists and the extreme right. Despite the fact
> that the country had moved to the right, the Socialists won. However, as a
> result of the rise of the extreme right, the Muslims had created their own
> party, the Muslim Fraternity. To everyone’s surprise, in the first round of
> the 2022 presidential election, the Muslims were second to the extreme
> right. A deal was made between the other main parties and the Muslims.
> However, because of the uncertainty, there is considerable unease in
> France. There seem to be violent outbreaks which the media and government
> keep hidden. The university is “temporarily” closed. François leaves Paris,
> fearing a civil war, and heads South-West. Arriving at the small town of
> Martel (named after Charles Martel who beat the Arabs at Tours), he meets
> the husband of a colleague. This man had worked for the French internal
> security service but had just been given early retirement. He tells
> François what he thinks is going to happen. The Muslim Fraternity duly wins
> the election and suddenly but quietly, things start to change. Women have
> to dress more conservatively and are seemingly driven out of many jobs to
> become just wives and mothers. Polygamy is adopted. Crime drops.
> Eventually, François is offered a good job at the university, if he
> converts to Islam. <
>
> A happy 2015 to everybody!
>
> Kai
>
>
> On 04.01.2015 00:03, rich wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> *some things to look forward to for the new year The Rise of Islamic
> State: Isis and the New Sunni Revolution, Patrick Cockburn *
>
>
> *Goebbels, Peter Longerich London Overground,*
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Iain Sinclair Zero Zero Zero, Roberto Saviano Black Earth, Timothy Snyder
> John le Carré, Adam Sisman *
>
>
> *The Dying Grass,W Vollmann *
>
>
> *The Blue Guitar, John Banville *
>
> *rich *
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20150104/a132f46d/attachment.html>