of writing x, xi, 71, 78
l’affaire Houellebecq 15–17, 21–2, 23–7
affect 3, 5, 6, 17, 41, 44, 53, 54–5, 58, 61, 71–4, 81, 87–8, 108, 119, 127, 130, 144, 146, 151–81, 187–190
Agamben, Giorgio 160
ageing 4, 96, 106, 109, 119
agriculture 84, 125
Ministry of 2, 72, 82, 85
America (US and USA) 26, 28, 51, 61, 129, 133
Anderson, Perry 7–8
animals 75, 103, 169, 173, 186n. 16
cows 75
dogs 75, 180, 186n. 78
anti-feminism xvi, 109–20 see also feminism
anti-Islam xvi, 4, 16, 28–33, 112
apocalypse 5, 153, 158, 164–6, 176, 181
Apter, Emily 126
Arrabal, Fernando 110
art 8, 170, 172, 179 see also kitsch
Art of Struggle, The 2, 18
Atomised vii, viii, xii, 3, 187
and cloning/posthumanity 153–6, 160, 162, 163, 164, 168–75
and feminism 96, 112
and labour 83–4
and neoliberalism 46, 61, 87
and reception of 5, 9, 10, 11, 15–27
and sex 125, 126–7, 128–9, 131–40
and the Sixties 91, 92, 95, 101, 102, 103–9, 120
Attridge, Derek 11, 172
Audier, Serge 96, 97, 121–2n. 13
autogestion 1, 102–3, 137
Balzac, Honoré de vii, viii, xii, 24, 81
bandes dessinées xii, 135, 148n. 27
Bangkok 114, 115, 140
Banville, John 78–9
Barnes, Julian xii, 24, 39n. 102, 125
Barthes, Roland xvi, 34n. 13, 122n. 13
Bataille, Georges 156
Baudelaire, Charles 60, 81
Baudrillard, Jean xiii, xiv, 86, 113, 144
Bauman, Zygmunt 45, 64–5n. 26, 86
Baverez, Nicolas 147n. 2
Beckett, Samuel 8, 25, 34n. 20, 78–9
Benjamin, Walter 43, 159
Bennett, David 129, 130
Best, Steven and Douglas Kellner 157–8, 182n. 14
Bewes, Timothy 42, 55
biopolitics 48, 52–5, 57–61, 88, 127, 160 see also neoliberalism
Blanchot, Maurice xiv, 34n. 13
Bohr, Niels 168, 172
Boltanksi, Luc and Ēve Chiapello 48, 51, 61, 62, 64n. 26, 66n. 34, 98–9
Bourdieu, Pierre xii, xiv, 13, 16, 34n. 13, 43, 60, 61, 68n. 71, 75, 76, 121–2n. 13, 146
Bourg, Julian 121n. 12, 127
Bowd, Gavin 14, 17, 123n. 39
Breillat, Catherine xv
Brinkmann, Svend 78
Brown, Wendy xvii, 54, 66n. 46
Butler, Judith 124n. 52
capitalism ix, 3,17, 67n. 68, 82, 89n. 18, 110, 112, 152, 159, 163, 188, 190
and cloning/posthumanity 3, 153, 154–6
and the end of the world 187
and feminism 109, 112–13, 118, 131
and Islam 4, 28, 30
and May ’68 xiv, 19–20, 91, 92–4, 96–9, 109, 119
and neoliberalism 41–63, 69
and sex 128, 130, 141, 143, 188
see also neoliberalism; post-Fordism
Ceccaldi, Lucie 1
Céline, Louis Ferdinand vii, ix, xvi, xvii, 8, 24, 25, 27, 35n. 33
Chaouat, Bruno 166
Christie, Agatha xii
cloning 3, 5–6, 136–7, 154, 156, 157–64, 167, 173, 174, 176–7, 182n. 12, 183n. 20, 186n. 73
Cloonan, William 9, 10, 23
comedy x, 176
humour xv, 2, 23, 43, 105, 171, 178
stand-up 171, 178
Comaroff, Jean and John Comaroff 160
commodification ix, xiii, 20, 41, 45, 59, 96, 119, 129, 156
sex and 140–2
see also reification
Communism ix, 45, 50, 92, 134, 160
Comte, Auguste 161, 162, 172, 173, 177
Crowley, Martin x, 57, 71, 77, 100, 111, 146–7
Cruickshank, Ruth 9, 67n. 63, 100, 128, 162
cultural capitalism 42–3, 53, 57, 59, 92, 126, 145
culture xiv, 2, 5, 7, 11, 13, 21, 32, 33n.5, 45, 52, 54, 55, 57, 59, 70, 75, 93, 111, 113, 120, 122n. 18, 126–7, 128, 129, 133–4, 139, 146, 153, 158, 166, 170–1, 175, 187
Darrieussecq, Marie xv, 9, 10
Darwinism 6, 75, 79, 100, 103, 109, 155–6, 162, 169
death 43, 95, 100, 107, 108, 134–6, 146, 160, 167, 169, 174, 177
Debord, Guy 34n. 13, 59
Debray, Régis 97
déclinisme xvii, 7–8, 126, 147n. 2
Deleuze, Gilles xii, xiv, 34n. 13, 35n. 29, 46, 95, 111, 121–2n. 13, 155
and Félix Guattari 60, 67n. 68, 89n. 18
depression 2, 74, 75, 106, 167, 169
Derrida, Jacques xiv, xv, 8, 11, 34n. 13, 35n. 29, 46, 95, 111, 122n. 13, 155
Despentes, Virginie xv, 9
D’Estaing, Valéry Giscard 56, 89n.14
distinction xii, xiii, 55, 70–1, 76–8, 81 see also Pierre Bourdieu
DNA xii, 155, 164, 168, 170, 176–7, 182n. 12, 186n. 69
droitisation xviii, 21, 94
Dufour, Dany-Robert 130
education 1, 97, 102, 138
Elohimites 151, 176–8, 186n. 73
Engels, Friedrich 165, 166
and Karl Marx 45
eschatology 3, 5, 125, 164, 186 n. 73
feminism x, xiv, xvi, xviii, 6, 19, 28, 94, 95–6, 105, 109–20, 123n. 52, 130–1
Ferry, Luc and Alain Renaut 92–3, 94, 95
Fisher, Mark 53
Flaubert, Gustave ix
Foucault, Michel xv, xvii, 27, 34n. 13, 48, 53, 64n. 17, 95, 111, 155, 160
biopolitics 57–9, 69
homo oœonomicus xvii, 58, 69, 70, 88, 129
sexuality 103
Fraser, Nancy 124n. 52
Freud, Sigmund xiv, xv, 7, 95, 101
Friedman, Milton 47, 49
Fukuyama, Francis 159
Gambino, Ferruchio 53, 66n. 40
Gantz, Katherine 14, 90n. 34
genetics 5–6, 24, 101, 110–11, 125, 135, 154, 155–6, 157–64, 168, 169, 174–7, 187
Genette, Gérard 12
Genome project 5, 170, 182n. 12, 186n. 69
Gopnik, Adam 26, 27
grandparents 1
generation of 125, 133, 179
Guillebaud, Jean-Claude 44, 127–8
Habermas, Jürgen 64n. 17, 36n. 47, 64n. 17
Haraway, Donna 158, 183n. 16
Hardt, Michael and Antonio Negri 54, 59, 82–4
Harvey, David xvii, 42, 48–50, 53, 64n. 26, 100
Hayek, Friedrich von 49, 88n. 2
homo œonomicus 58, 69–70, 88, 129 see also Foucault
Horkheimer, Max and Theodor Adorno 36n. 47, 78, 161
Houellebecq, Michel
dismissal from Perpendiculaire viii, 20
and the media xvi–xvii
Prix Goncourt viii
trial for ‘incitement to religious and racial hatred’ xvii, 16, 31
with Bernard-Henri Lévy: Public Enemies 102, 164, 165
youth and education 1–2
Huston, Nancy 123n. 41
Huxley, Aldous 104, 109, 136, 159, 169, 172
immaterial labour 53, 66n. 38, 82–6
IMPAC prize 2, 23
Interventions 19, 137, 161
Ireland 131, 136
Jagger, Mick 103–4
Jameson, Fredric 51, 64n. 17, 108, 114, 161, 183n. 22, 187
Jeffery, Ben 105, 171
Jessop, Bob 57–8, 65n. 26
jouissance 88, 129, 140, 156, 174
Juvin, Hervé 129–30
Kellner, Douglas and Steve Best 157, 158, 182n. 14
Keynes, John Maynard 48, 50, 51
Kiersey, Nicholas 69
kitsch 10, 178–9 see also art
Kolakowski, Lesek 46, 60
Kristeva, Julia 113, 146
Lacan, Jacques xiv, 34n. 13, 95, 111, 155, 156
Lanzaro
te 4, 33n. 5, 153, 176
Latour, Bruno 153, 158, 182n. 13, 183n. 17
Lazzarato, Maurizio 52, 60, 84
Le Goff, Jean-Pierre 97
le monde houellebecquien ix, x, xii, xiii, xiv, xv, 2, 11, 14, 63, 84, 127, 167, 189
Lefebvre, Henri xv, 34n. 13, 64n. 17, 73–4, 98, 134
Les Inrockuptibles 13, 16, 20
liberalism ix, 17, 26, 41, 42, 48, 49, 50, 54, 55, 99, 100, 127, 130, 134, 145
sexual 126, 133
Lieu de Changement 17, 104–5, 139–40
Lindenberg, Daniel 32, 94
Lipovetsky, Gilles 44, 62, 65n. 26, 93–5, 97, 99
love xii, xiv, xviii, 4, 7, 32, 58, 79, 88, 94, 96, 118, 136, 137, 146, 147, 151–3, 155–6, 162–71, 173–80, 187 see also affect
Lovecraft, H. P. 2, 164–6, 168
Lukács, Georg 42, 45, 64n. 17
Lyotard, Francois xiv, 34n. 13, 53, 86, 130
Maillot, Jacques 14, 122n. 25, 143
Map and the Territory, The viii, 6, 14–15, 23, 33n. 5, 90n. 39, 140
Marcuse, Herbert 36n. 47, 44, 62, 64n. 17, 101
Marx, Karl 57, 58, 60, 92, 95
and Friedrich Engels 45
and Marxism ix, xiv, xv, 7, 17, 20, 42, 45–6, 59, 84, 121n. 12, 129–30, 161, 166
May ’68 5, 20, 91–6, 96–100, 127
McRobbie, Angela 123n. 52
Meizoz, Jérôme 12, 13, 35n. 33
metaphysics x, 57, 87, 153, 155, 161, 162, 163, 165, 166, 168, 169, 173, 175, 189
Michallat, Wendy 23, 148n. 27
Millet, Catherine xv
misogyny vii, xvi, 12, 13, 20, 22, 148n. 25, 171, 189 see also feminism
mission civilisatrice 142
Monoprix xii, 76, 110
Moore, Gerald 135, 167, 171, 175
moralistes 135, 148n. 25, 164–8, 185n. 50
Morrey, Douglas 112, 130, 139, 145
Negri, Antonio 70
Michael Hardt and 54, 59, 82, 84
neoliberalism 42–3, 46, 48–57, 64n. 24, 66n. 34, 69–88, 162, 165, 187, 190
and 1968 44, 93
as biopolitics 57–63, 160
as la pensée unique 12, 19
and sex 96, 126, 127, 128, 130
New Age 16, 96, 105, 125, 139, 175, 186n. 73
New Labour 8
and Tony Blair 8, 49
Nietzsche, Friedrich xiv, 5, 7, 76, 95, 102, 103, 135, 160, 167, 171, 175
Noé, Gaspar xv
Noguez, Dominique 17, 21, 36n. 59, 37n. 67, 110
nouveau roman xi, 10, 34 n. 20, 71
Paris 4, 18, 30, 31, 34n. 20, 81, 93, 132, 135, 139
pensée unique 12, 19, 25, 36n. 53, 57
Perpendiculaire viii, 16–22, 36n. 59
Planck, Max xii, 125
Platform 3
and feminism 96, 110–13
and Islam 4, 28–33
and labour 82–4, 113
and neoliberalism 82–3
reception of 5–6, 15–27, 39n. 102
and sex tourism 110–20, 140–7
Polyani, Karl 88n. 2
positivism xii, 101, 161, 162, 172 see also Comte
Possibility of an Island, The viii, xix, 3, 4–5, 88, 152–5, 168, 186n. 73, 187, 188, 189
and cloning and posthumanity 5, 154, 164–7, 175–81, 189–90
post-Fordism 51–3, 61–3, 64n. 26, 73, 98, 144
posthumanity 153–64, 165, 168, 171–2, 175–6, 182n. 14, 188–90
postmodernism xiv, 35n. 29, 61, 71, 97
Proust, Marcel xiii, 126
psychoanalysis xv, 79–80, 95, 102, 118, 122n. 33, 148n. 30, 156
quantum theory 9, 168, 172, 184n. 30, 184n. 38
and Max Planck 125
Read, Jason 53, 55, 59
Reader, Keith 121n. 12, 147n. 5, 150n. 42
Redonnet, Marie 111, 112
reification ix, xvii, 42, 43, 44–6, 48, 59, 75, 110 see also commodification
Renaut, Alain
and Luc Ferry: La pensée ’68 92–5
rentrée littéraire viii, 20
ressentiment ix, 6, 138
Rester vivant, méthode xiii, 2, 18, 70
Rester vivant, suivi de la poursuite de la Bonheur 20
Rifkin, Jeremy 158, 183n. 20
Rose, Nikolas 80, 159, 183n. 20
and Paul Rabinov 183n. 19
Ross, Kristin 91, 93, 97, 98, 122n. 18, 134
Rouen 73, 80, 81
rouge-brun xv, xxn. 23, 17, 26, 46, 94, 129
Rowbotham, Shelia 123n. 36
Rushdie, Salman 6, 39n. 98
S & M 107–8
Sade, Marquis de 26, 95, 100, 101–9, 121n. 12, 135, 139–40, 148n. 26, 161
Sarkozy, Nicholas 93, 97
Sartre, Jean-Paul xii, 7, 8, 10, 74, 132, 166
Schopenhauer, Arthur 135, 164
Sens du combat, Le 2, 18
September 11th 5, 14
sex work 114–20, 140–7, 149n. 34
Sloterdijk, Peter 160, 184n. 28
Smith, Adam 48, 54
Snoop Dog 126
sociology 14, 60, 78, 82, 127, 132, 168
soixante-huitards xiv–xv, xviii, 3, 19, 24, 91–3, 99, 100, 103, 109, 122n. 25, 127
Sollers, Philippe 92, 120n. 4
taste xii, 16, 52, 76, 80, 145, 179 see also Bourdieu
Thailand 115, 116, 141–3
Thatcher, Margaret 48, 49, 51, 52, 56, 69
Toscano, Alberto 121n. 7
Touraine, Alain 61
tourism 28, 32, 110, 116, 141, 143–5, 149n. 38
Trente Glorieueses, Les 134
utopia 3, 76, 92, 105, 107, 114, 134, 136, 151, 154, 156, 168, 189
Van Renterghem, Marion viii, 20, 22
Vaneigem, Raoul 59, 100
Varsava, Jerry 71, 135, 148n. 25
Virno, Paolo 84
Weber, Max 48, 50, 56
Whatever vii, ix, xi, xiii, xix, 2–4, 14, 17, 19, 99, 126, 140, 152, 188
and feminism 115
and neoliberalism 69–88
Williams, Raymond 154, 190
Winnubust, Shannon 128, 130
Woods, James 129
Wynne, Frank 15
Žižek, Slavoj 42, 43, 145, 167, 168
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First published 2013
© Carole Sweeney, 2013
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Sweeney, Carole.
Michel Houellebecq and the Literature of Despair / Carole Sweeney.
pages cm. -- (Continuum Literary Studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8264-2262-0 (hardback) -- ISBN (invalid) 978-1-62356-918-1 (epub) -- ISBN (invalid) 978-1-62356-298-4 (epdf)
I. Houellebecq, Michel Criticism and interpretation. II. Title.
PQ2668.O77Z87 2013
843’.914--dc23
2013029970
ISBN: 978-1-6235-6918-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
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Michel Houellebecq and the Literature of Despair Page 33