Submission

A hypnotic and engrossing read, arguably Houellebecq's best novel since Atomized. The consensus view among critics is that Houellebecq is a misanthrope who writes to shock. This, however, is to miss the point. Whatever label one might wish to apply to Houellebecq, he would be keen to point out, as indeed he does in his afterword, that he received no formal university education. In other words, what Houellebecq depicts, both in Submission and elsewhere, is an unerringly realistic, even if somewhat depressing, view not only of the world but also of human nature. Perhaps it would be most accurate to view Submission as a “vision” (Houellebecq's own word), or a moral fable akin to 1984 or Brave New World. Everything Houellebecq depicts in the 2022 France where Submission is set finds its antecedent in today's world. I found the novel more funny and intelligent than either offensive or sensational; rather an insight into modern France. Ballard would have loved it. The plot, rather than being about a quasi-Islamic “takeover” of France, is more about the seductive power of ideas or the appropriation of intellectual theories for ulterior ends. There is both submission and salvation for the novel's narrator (as there might plausibly be for France in the modern world). No one else writes quite like Houellebecq. 10/10.

By Michel Houellebecq