Michel houellebecq: French novelist for our times

Houellebecq's view of the establishment of liberal freedoms is summarised in Whatever's original title in French: Extension du domaine de la lutte (which literally translated would read: 'Extension of the Domain of Struggle'). Sexual liberalism, like economic liberalism before it, Houellebecq is saying, amounts to the creation of a society in which all must compete to survive and prosper: every man for himself or the survival of the fittest, in other words. Houellebecq returns to this in Atomised: 'The sexual revolution was to destroy the last unit separating the individual from the market. The destruction continues to this day'.

Critics have contended that this shows Houellebecq to be a reactionary, that he harks back to a more paternalistic society. There is an element of truth in this in that it does tell us something about where Houellebecq comes from, if nothing about where he is going. In common with Bruno and Michel, the half-brothers in Atomised, for instance, Houellebecq was the offspring of a marriage which soon dissolved, his 'sexually liberated' mother leaving to live the 'hippy life', and he was brought up by his grandmother. He has testified to the fact that this led him to feel 'the victim of a grave injustice'. Similarly, both brothers in Atomised are emotionally damaged as a result of their abandonment. Again, Bruno and Whatever's narrator, like Houellebecq himself, spend time in a psychiatric clinic as a result of their growing alienation, while the Michels of Atmoised and Platform both appear to give up on life.

Unlike Bruno, however, his half-brother Michel refuses to participate in the sexual rat race, although he is vouchsafed the opportunity of an emotionally-fulfilling relationship with Annabelle, but is unable fully to respond. This enables Houellebecq to provide an antidote to 'free love' through Michel's tentative approach towards true love: 'He had an immense compassion for her, for the boundless reserve of love he could feel simmering inside her, which the world had wasted... He was capable of realising that love, in some way, through some obscure process, was possible'.

As Houellebecq comments: 'Tenderness is a deeper instinct than seduction, which is why it is so difficult to give up hope'. This echoes Whatever with its 'The desire for love is deep in man'.

The contrast between free love and true love is taken further in Platform. Now, 'the suicide of the West' has reached the point where the only outcome for the children of the sexual revolution is to seek sexual fulfilment through the commercialisation of sexuality in the East. As Michel explains, on the one hand, millions of Westerners have everything they want except sexual satisfaction, on the other hand, billions of people have nothing left to sell except their bodies and their unspoiled sexuality: 'It's simple, really simple to understand; it's an ideal trading opportunity'.

This is contrasted with Michel's love affair with Valerie, in which each finds love through a renunciation of their individuality. 'It's impossible to make love without a certain abandon', Michel explains, 'without accepting, at least temporarily, the state of being in a state of dependency, of weakness'.