Michel Houellebecq is dirty and sleazy, and he always has been. In the novels, the absurdities and exaggerations are moderated and relativized by the fact that they are put into the mouths of people, usually men, who are, to put it mildly, flawed. The poorness and frailty are probably as prominent as the provocations and exaggerations. His new book is not a novel, it is a pamphlet, and a defense letter. This blend is classic Houellebecqsk. Irrelevant, eclectic and at times very entertaining. Houellebecq moves out into the open, without the novel’s fictional framework as a reconciling veil. Now he is the poor and flawed one. It opens with him distancing himself from some hopelessly generalizing statements he has made about Muslims. USED TO ATTENTION: Michel Houellebecq’s new book is like a kind of defense speech after several controversies, but (fortunately) also has a number of digressions in a row, writes news’s critic Knut Hoem. Picture from a press conference in 2010, when he won the Goncourt prize. Photo: Thibault Camus / Ap Distances himself from Muslim statements In conversation with the philosopher Michel Onfray, he stated that “ethnic” French (translator Tom Lotherington uses the slightly strange word “rooted”) did not primarily want the Muslims to assimilate, but that ” they should stop stealing from them and threatening them. Otherwise, there is another good solution, that they go their separate ways.” That Houellebecq unreservedly apologizes for that statement will please many of his faithful readers. He clarifies instead that French society does not really have a problem with religion, but with crime. Most of us, regardless of faith, can sign up to that. His relationship with Islam is warmer than before, Houellebecq now believes, who has also attended a reconciliation meeting with the superintendent of the Grand Mosque in Paris. Facts about Michel Houellebecq Photo: OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI / Afp Born 1956. Trained agricultural engineer. French writer, poet and film director, known for his controversial novels. The novels often revolve around middle-aged, disillusioned men with little faith in society. Has shown an extraordinary ability to capture the spirit of the times by portraying hot topics. Has received many awards, among them the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2002 and the French Goncourt Prize in 2010. Appointed a knight of the French Legion of Honor on January 1, 2019. Regrets porn film The other thing that bothers him towards the end of 2022 is that he managed to be lured into a porn film, where he and his wife had sex with a young Dutch woman. He had even signed a contract that this was okay (!). He also regrets this, not least because he believes the film producers did this solely to make money from it. As a reason for why he chose to say yes, he comes up with what must be said to be the year’s excuse. He really wanted to take a train to Amsterdam, not least because the train was a Thales high-speed train – a relative of the better-known TGV train! If this book had consisted solely of the apology to the Muslims and the fight against the filmmakers, this pamphlet would have been rather unbearable reading. Fortunately, it holds more. Because Houellebecq keeps losing the thread. He writes away and away and into what he masters better than most. He writes a lot about sex, which he believes is the most valuable thing in human life. Sexfixed A person who has sex is, according to Houellebecq, at his most human. It is the opposite of violence, the opposite of evil. He believes that he stands for a different type of free-spirited sexuality than the sadistic one, which emanated from Marquis de Sade. He distances himself from any form of violence and abuse. He proudly boasts that, unlike today’s young generation, he had sexual experiences before he was exposed to porn. But in some of the amateur porn online, he believes he finds genuine “lust – real, not simulated”. The genuine sexual experience is also one of the things that is most difficult to write about, and to document. Could a pornographic recording be the solution? In such reasoning, Houellebecq is fun to follow. More Pink Floyd than punk Between all the slurs he hurls at the filmmaker (whom he calls “the cockroach”) and his crew (whom he calls “the sow”, “the snake” and “the turkey”), considerations about music, media and politics drip out . About why he prefers Pink Floyd to punk, and about what he likes to watch on TV when he can’t sleep at night. He talks about how the legendary leader of the French Communist Party, George Marchais, was able to keep different types of communists together in the party, while a part of them today run straight into the arms of far-right populist Marine Le Pen. He surprisingly pays tribute to the American best-selling author John Grisham, and the German author Theodor Fontane. From now on, Houellebecq wants to write more like Fontane. Spread out and light, with plenty of room for digressions. WATCH ON news TV: Literary critic Knut Hoem talks about Michel Houellebecq in the “Book Programme”. First sent in 2006. In his outbursts against Islam, he is reminiscent of the Norwegian poet Arnulf Øverland, who in his time believed that Christianity was the tenth plague of the time. In his interest in pornography and sexuality, he is a provocateur in the tradition of Jens Bjørneboe. He writes – in several senses of the word – without a thread. In the meeting with the porn film makers, he appears as a poor man equipped with below-average judgment. When he literary loses his thread, he flashes back and shows off his overwhelming literary talent. news reviewer Photo: Cappelen Damm Title: “Some months in my life” Author: Michel Houellebecq Original title: “Quelques mois dans ma vie” Translator: Tom Lotherington Number of pages: 112 Genre: Nonfiction Published: 2024 Publisher: Cappelen Damm ISBN: 9788202811730 Hi !I read and review literature in news. Please also read my review of “Kairos” by Jenny Erpenbeck, “Details” by Ia Genberg, or Franz Kafka’s “The Process” translated by Jon Fosse.
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“A few months in my life” by Michel Houellebecq – Reviews and recommendations
