Submission

[rich]

Near the end of the book the narrator comments on the Story of 0, the usual
type of books he despises though he gives it some credit for its passion
and ideas. Reading Submission mirrors that feeling. A generally awful
person finds reason to live to live in Islamic France that he could not
find wrapped in a Western liberal tradition: multiple wives to cook fuck
and what have you; a return to the family or in the narrator's case a new
family; a return to patriarchy which it is claimed keeps societies stable
and ensures perpetuation of new citizens; the end of his Huymans obsession
as it relates to religious conversions; hey even triple the pay to teach.

It all seems like a black joke. His hatred of the French, its
intellectuals, culture, its politicians rivals Thomas Bernhard's screeds on
his native Austria.
Houellebecq can be funny at times but considering what happened in Paris
(where if I'm correct some of the same neighborhoods are mentioned in the
novel) its not an easy laugh

Fwiw, I dont take the book all that seriously--the book takes places about
10 years in the future. I doubt we'll see a character like ben Abbes
anytime soon, especially in France.

rich
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