What Houellebecq Learned from Huysmans • Hacker News Board

Re: What Houellebecq Learned from Huysmans

#11

Post by seszett » Tue, Nov 17, 2015, 2:50 PM UTC

throwitup wrote: post #7

coldtea wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It says a lot about the mentality of the French left that calling a religion "stupid" gets you a criminal charge... Well, in the US if it hit a wrong nerve with someone you could lose your job -- even if you said it on your personal account. Heck, it has happened for far less offensive things. And unless you name-check God every so often, whether Republican or Democrat, you ain't getting to be President. If God "ta…

In the UK you can be arrested for posting on Facebook that your beauty salon is 'no longer taking bookings from anyone from the Islamic faith'. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3320166/Police-arres...

Well, discrimination according to religion is illegal in the UK, isn't it?

Re: What Houellebecq Learned from Huysmans

#12

Post by return0 » Tue, Nov 17, 2015, 2:52 PM UTC

corin_ wrote: post #8

return0 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 'm not sure he has changed much his views as the article seems to hint at. There are several comments about it in his latest book, and it's also provides the background story. He even says so in this interview http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/06/michel-houelleb...

He seems like an incredibly fascinating and flawed man, and I love reading his novels (not to say that I agree with the views in them..), but I've never been quite sure where the real Houellebecq starts and the fictional persona begins. Maybe what you see is who he is, but I'm not sure.

Good question, given that he murdered himself in his last novel.

Re: What Houellebecq Learned from Huysmans

#13

Post by corin_ » Tue, Nov 17, 2015, 3:32 PM UTC

return0 wrote: post #12

corin_ wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He seems like an incredibly fascinating and flawed man, and I love reading his novels (not to say that I agree with the views in them..), but I've never been quite sure where the real Houellebecq starts and the fictional persona begins. Maybe what you see is who he is, but I'm not sure.

Good question, given that he murdered himself in his last novel.

I haven't read the one that came out this year, but in previous novels I always got a sense that a lot of the writing did speak to his actual opinions, and felt like I could tell alot about him just from his fiction - but always also with the underlying question of not being sure where he was drawing from personal opinions and where he was being entirely fictional.

Re: What Houellebecq Learned from Huysmans

#14

Post by omginternets » Tue, Nov 17, 2015, 4:51 PM UTC

throwitup wrote: post #7

coldtea wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It says a lot about the mentality of the French left that calling a religion "stupid" gets you a criminal charge... Well, in the US if it hit a wrong nerve with someone you could lose your job -- even if you said it on your personal account. Heck, it has happened for far less offensive things. And unless you name-check God every so often, whether Republican or Democrat, you ain't getting to be President. If God "ta…

In the UK you can be arrested for posting on Facebook that your beauty salon is 'no longer taking bookings from anyone from the Islamic faith'. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3320166/Police-arres...

Criticizing a religion and discriminating on the basis of religion are two vastly different things.

Re: What Houellebecq Learned from Huysmans

#15

Post by maldusiecle » Tue, Nov 17, 2015, 6:03 PM UTC

pmoriarty wrote: post #10

The difference is that Huysmans' A Rebours is a relatively intellectual and sophisticated novel, while Houellebecq's is pedestrian garbage.

A shame this is being downvoted, it's concise but in my opinion on point. I enjoyed several of Houellebecq's novel as an undergraduate, but when I revisited them recently I was surprised how superficial their social critiques are. You can get a lot more from one good literary essay than from his novels, albeit minus the deliberate offensiveness (misogyny, racism, etc.) with which he proves himself "edgy."

A Rebours isn't a perfect novel, but the image of the jewel-encrusted tortoise is a better passage than anything Houellebecq has achieved.

Re: What Houellebecq Learned from Huysmans

#16

Post by _delirium » Tue, Nov 17, 2015, 6:32 PM UTC

seszett wrote: post #11

throwitup wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK you can be arrested for posting on Facebook that your beauty salon is 'no longer taking bookings from anyone from the Islamic faith'. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3320166/Police-arres...

Well, discrimination according to religion is illegal in the UK, isn't it?

Also in most other western countries nowadays. In the U.S. it's been illegal since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Historically one of the more common cases of discriminating based on religion was the prevalence of businesses with "no Jews" policies, but that was eventually banned.

Re: What Houellebecq Learned from Huysmans

#17

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Nov 17, 2015, 7:47 PM UTC

maldusiecle wrote: post #15

pmoriarty wrote: post #10

The difference is that Huysmans' A Rebours is a relatively intellectual and sophisticated novel, while Houellebecq's is pedestrian garbage.

A shame this is being downvoted, it's concise but in my opinion on point. I enjoyed several of Houellebecq's novel as an undergraduate, but when I revisited them recently I was surprised how superficial their social critiques are. You can get a lot more from one good literary essay than from his novels, albeit minus the deliberate offensiveness (misogyny, racism, etc.) with which he proves himself "edgy." A Rebours i…

[deleted]

Re: What Houellebecq Learned from Huysmans

#18

Post by pervycreeper » Tue, Nov 17, 2015, 11:46 PM UTC

pmoriarty wrote: post #10

The difference is that Huysmans' A Rebours is a relatively intellectual and sophisticated novel, while Houellebecq's is pedestrian garbage.

Have you read "Submission" yet? I feel that his works have been on a consistent upward trend in terms of "literary merit", and this latest book is very well-made.