Michel Houellebecq
Encyclopedia : M : MI : MIC : Michel Houellebecq
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Works
Houellebecq worked as a computer administrator in Paris before he became the so-called "pop star of the single generation". Gaining fame with the novel Extension du domaine de la lutte in 1994 (translated into English by Paul Hammond as Whatever), he won the 1998 Prix Novembre with his novel Les Particules élementaires (translated by Frank Wynne) and published as Atomised (Heinemann, UK), or, The Elementary Particles (Knopf, US). The novel became an instant "nihilistic classic", although the New York Times described it as, "a deeply repugnant read." The novel won Houellebecq—along with his translator, Frank Wynne—the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2002.The author's following novel, Plateforme (2001), earned him a wider reputation. It is a romance, told mostly in the first-person by an aging male arts administrator, with many sex scenes and an approbation of prostitution and sex tourism. The novel's depiction of life and its explicit criticism of Islam and the Muslim faith, together with an interview its author gave to the magazine Lire, led to accusations against Houellebecq by several organisations, including France's Human Rights League, the Mecca-based World Islamic League and the mosques of Paris and Lyon. Charges were brought to trial, in circumstances reminiscent of Britain's Salman Rushdie affair; but a panel of three judges, delivering their verdict to a packed Paris courtroom, acquitted the author of having provoked racial hatred.
His most recent novel is The Possibility of an Island (original title La Possibilité d'une île).
He has also produced the spoken word CD Presence humaine where he sings a number of his poems to the music of Bertrand Burgalat (Tricatel, 2000).
Adaptations
Extension du domaine de la lutte has been filmed by Philippe Harel and adapted as a play in Danish by Jens Albinus for the Royal Danish Theatre.The English translation of his novel Platform was adapted as a play by the theatre company Carnal Acts for the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London in December 2004. A Spanish adaptation of the novel by Calixto Bieito, performed by Companyia Teatre Romea, will premiere at the 2006 Edinburgh International Festival.
Along with Loo Hui Phang, Houellebecq wrote the manuscript for the movie Monde extérieur (2002) by David Rault and David Warren.
Les particules élementaires has been made into a German movie, Elementarteilchen, directed by Oskar Roehler, starring Moritz Bleibtreu and Franka Potente. The film premiered at the 2006 Berlinale.
Bibliography
- Whatever - (translated by Paul Hammond, original title: Extension du domaine de la lutte) - 1994
- Atomised - (translated by Frank Wynne, original title: Les Particules élémentaires; published in the US as The Elementary Particles) - 1998
- Lanzarote - (translated by Frank Wynne) - 2000
- Platform - (translated by Frank Wynne, original title Plateforme) - 2001
- Against the World, Against Life (translated by Dorna Khazeni) a biography of H. P. Lovecraft.
- The Possibility of an Island - (translated by Gavin Bowd, original title La Possibilité d'une île) - 2005
- Rester vivant, méthode, La Différence (1991)
- La Poursuite du bonheur, poèmes, La Différence (1992)
- Le Sens du combat, poèmes, Flammarion (1996)
- Interventions, recueil d'essais, Flammarion (1998)
- Renaissance, poèmes, Flammarion (1999)
- ”Description d’une lassitude” (2002) in Houelle 10, Paris.
- ”Je crois peu en la liberté - Entretien” (1998) in Revue Perpendiculaire 11, Paris: Flammarion, p. 4-23.
- ”L’homme de gauche est mal parti” (2003) in Le Figaro 6/1/03, p. 1, 13.
- ”La question pedophile: Réponse” (1997) in L’Infini 59, Paris: Gallimard, pp. 96-98.
- ”La privatisation du monde” (2000) in L’Atelier du roman 23, Paris, pp. 129-34.
- ”Le haut langage” (1995) in La Quinzaine littéraire, 670; Paris; pp. 21-22.
- [”Leonard Cohen – le libertaire impossible”], (2002)
- ”Michel Houellebecq répond à Perpendiculaire” (1998) in Le Monde 18/9/98
- ”Neil Young” (2000) in Michka Assayas (ed.) Dictionnaire du rock, Paris: Robert Laffont.
- ”Préface” in Toni Ungerer (2001) Erotoscope, Paris: Éditions Taschen.
- ”Préface: L’Humanité, second stade” (1998) in Solanas, Valerie: Scum Manifesto, Paris: Éditions Mille et une nuits, pp. 63-69.
- ”Préface: Préliminaires au positivisme” (2003) in Bourdeau, Braunstein & Petit (eds.): Auguste Comte aujourd’hui, Paris: Éditions Kimé, pp. 7-12.
- ”Préface: Renoncer à l’intelligence” (1991) in Gourmont, Remy de: L’Odeur des jacynthes, Paris: Orphée/La Différence, pp. 7-20.
- ”Un monde sans direction” (1996) in La Quinzaine littéraire, 700; Paris; pp. 8-9.
- ”Wilde Flucht” (2000) in Tageszeitung Berlin, 30/10/00.
- "Cristal de souffrance" (1978)
- "Déséquilibre" (1982)
- "La Rivière" (2001) Canal +
- "Le Sens du combat" (1996) Paris: Les Poétiques de France Culture.
- "Présence humaine" (2000) Paris : Tricatel.
- Barry, Judith; Convert, Pascal & Pfnür, Rainer (eds.) (1993) "Genius Loci", Paris: La Différence.
- Breillat, Catherine (ed.) (1999) "Le livre du plaisir", Paris: Éditions 1.
- Div. (1995) "Objet Perdu: fictions – Idées – Images", Paris: Lachenal et Ritter & Parc Éditions.
- Hegemann, Claus (ed.) (2000) "Kapitalismus und Depression II: Glück ohne Ende", Berlin: Alexander Verlag.
- Noguez, Dominique (ed.) (2002) "Balade en Seine-et-Marne: Sur les pas des écrivains", Paris: Éditions Alexandrines.
- Ruff, Thomas & Houellebecq, Michel (2002) "Nudes", München: Walther König.
- Wiame, Sarah & Houellebecq, Michel (1993) "La Peau", Paris: Sarah Wiame.
- Wiame, Sarah & Houellebecq, Michel (1995) "La Ville", Paris: Sarah Wiame.
External links
- [Official homepage]
- [Fan club]
- ["90% Hateful"] by John Updike, The New Yorker, May 15 2006
- ["A dog's life (poodles excepted)"] by Michael Worton, The Guardian, October 29 2005
- ["L'Étranger in a Strange Land: Michel Houellebecq's Weekend in L.A."] by Brendan Bernhard, LA Weekly, June 2005
- [The man can't help it] - The Guardian, August 31, 2002.
- *In-depth interview.
- [An essay on Houellebecq and critical theory]
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