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Loading... Onderworpen / druk 2 (2015)
Work InformationSubmission by Michel Houellebecq (2015)
  
Books Read in 2016 (392) » 11 more Best Dystopias (172) Top Five Books of 2015 (550) Books Read in 2018 (3,837) Política - Clásicos (115) Academia in Fiction (83) No current Talk conversations about this book.  owlbeyourfriend | Apr 24, 2024 |   SESchend | Feb 2, 2024 |  ) ThomasNorford | Mar 7, 2023 | So, I finally ended up reading "Submission" in 2022. In the novel, France's newly elected head of state in fictional 2022 is *dramatic sound effect* a Muslim. I know, shocking, right? All jokes aside, I remember back in 2015 the novel's release was making waves in the media and it might very well have been my first introduction to the author Houellebecq. After finishing the book, I revisited some of the reviews and articles that were published back in the day. Many of those quite blatantly misrepresented the novel's content, I guess in order to stir up some controversy. Yes, the Islam that is pictured in the novel is a very superficial caricature: it's just polygamy, halal food and hijabs. Also, the title "Submission" insinuates a swift and forceful coup which brings a Muslim (and therefore, by implication "thee Muslims") into power. That however, is not what's happening in the story (the term "submission" is directed at *Houellebecq alert* the submission of women) and it leads me directly to the novel's first plot hole. Houellebecq's setup is as follows: France's socialists want to avoid a presidency of the Front National by teaming up with the French Muslim Brotherhood. So far so good. Now, the far-right Identitarian Movement has correctly and secretly assessed the situation, anticipates a "Muslim victory" in the elections and decides to quietly convert to Islam instead of publishing their findings and using it to aid the right wing in the elections. Is that a likely scenario? No. Well it's fiction, anything goes. Moving on to plot hole No. 2: the novel's protagonist Francois is a notorious horndog looking for love and (even moreso) sexual gratification. He notices the polygamy implemented by the new regime time and time again, but is only then convinced to convert to Islam, when he is given a lecture on how Islam is the superior version of monotheism. The guy's main concern was his root chacra, and then all of a sudden he is all crown chacra? I don't buy it. Plot hole No. 3: as soon as the new government is in power all turmoil ends. Everyone quietly accepts the new polygamous practice and arranged marriages. At the same time, the government is not a totalitarian tyranny and is even pro European Union. I would have expected some more resistance, especially given that prior in the novel, there's a whole lotta civil unrest. Women, where are ya? Rise up! Or don't... it's a Houellebecq world after all. Plot hole No. 4: there are no belly dancers. I repeat: NO BELLY DANCERS! Come on Houellebecq, you're cooking up this farcical testoserone-driven version of an Islamic France and forget belly dancers? What a missed oportunity. What's good about the novel? In the first half, there is a lot of foreboding; a suspenseful, looming atmosphere of what's to come. I enjoyed that. Also, a sub-plot is the protagonist's professional and personal preoccupation with French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans. Houellebecq skillfully interlocked passages on his work and biography with the main events in the novel. Overall, the novel is not without flaw in my humble opinion. Although, Houellebcq correctly predicted Le Pen's candidacy in the 2022 presidential elections. He did not predict Macron, though. PS: the Houellebecq-Lolita of this novel is less believable than the one in "The Possibility of an Island". (  ) MyBookshelf2 | Nov 15, 2022 | ) stiankj | Aug 28, 2022 |
 Submission is not a simple provocation. It is a deep, gripping and haunting novel which proves a culmination point of Houellebecq’s work so far and, in my view, a recent high-point for European fiction. I can think of no writer currently working who can get anywhere near Houellebecq’s achievement in finding a fictional way into the darkest and most necessary corners of our time. Nor can I think of another writer currently working who would be able to write a novel of this depth, scope and relevance while also making it witty and page-turning. The most intelligent criticism to date has come from reviewers who have objected to one layer of the novel which relates to the academic specialism of the main character. Francois is a typical Houellebecq leading man: a middle-aged academic whose parents’ deaths have no effect on him, who has short relationships with his younger female students and who since separating from an attractive young Jewish student, with whom he still intermittently has sex, switches to prostitutes though finds his libido insufficiently diverted. When Francois flees the looming chaos in Paris by going to the significantly chosen town of Martel in the south of France he tries to interest himself in Cro-Magnon man. At one point he reflects, “Cro-Magnon man hunted mammoth and reindeer; the man of today can choose between an Auchan and a Leclerc, both supermarkets located in Souillac.” Houellebecq signaleert een tendens, een kiem, en zijn roman is de broeikas waarin hij het proces versnelt en tot het uiterste doordenkt. Als je zo’n fictie in kort bestek navertelt krijgt dat onvermijdelijk iets karikaturaals, maar binnen deze roman voltrekken de veranderingen zich gestaag, subtiel en in grote lijnen overtuigend. Wat daar ook aan bijdraagt: het is, voor wie ontvankelijk is voor zijn humor, weer een echt geestige Houellebecq, de grappigste sinds Platform. Belongs to Publisher Seriesdumont taschenbücher (6359) Has as a commentary on the textAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
In a near-future France, François, a middle-aged academic, is watching his life slowly dwindle to nothing. His sex drive is diminished, his parents are dead, and his lifelong obsession--the ideas and works of the novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans--has led him nowhere. In a late-capitalist society where consumerism has become the new religion, François is spiritually barren, but seeking to fill the vacuum of his existence. And he is not alone. As the 2022 Presidential election approaches, two candidates emerge as favorites: Marine Le Pen of the Front National, and Muhammed Ben Abbes of the nascent Muslim Fraternity. Forming a controversial alliance with the mainstream parties, Ben Abbes sweeps to power, and overnight the country is transformed. Islamic law comes into force: women are veiled, polygamy is encouraged and, for François, life is set on a new course. No library descriptions found. 
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)843.914Literature French and related languages French fiction Modern Period 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.63)
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I think was really solidified my meh-ness was that on the back cover blurb, the conflict we are led to believe will be the main one (to convert to Islam or not) is not truly introduced as an option to François until page 203. The book is 246 pages. Maybe it's just a preference of mine, but I feel the conflict should be introduced much earlier than that. (