(Disclaimer: Most likely this is all deliberate and I’m just too dumb to understand Houellebecq.)
Houellebecq’s Submission reads like a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -style porn parody remix of a much better book. It’s full of really brilliant passages, and has a luminous core about the poverty of modern life and the transcendent power of spirituality; but then like 80% of the book is about the protagonist’s sexual conquests, and the positive power of spirituality and social order is heavily thematically linked to the idea of, like, “how cool would it be to live in a society where you can just force teenage girls to fuck you?”.
I guess you couldn’t get away with dodging the issue of patriarchal sexual control entirely; but the way Houellebecq presents it makes the whole concept of secular anomie and a return to traditionalism seem like a sex predator’s scam.
Which is a shame, because otherwise he had me pretty well convinced!
see I loved this because I felt like it was acknowledging that 90% of lofty arguments on social issues about the poverty of modern life or whatever are actually just elaborate rationalizations for fulfilling someone’s kinks
which doesn’t mean the arguments aren’t beautiful and convincing and they could even be right! but also, come on
I have no idea if this was intentional or not