Michel Houellebecq |
The French writer Michel Houllebecq (b. 1958) made his literary breakthrough with Les particules élémentaires (1998, Elementary particles), which won the Prix Novembre and was chosen by the literary magazine Lire as the best novel of the year. The book was a sensation, arousing confusion and conflicting emotions as well as great enthusiasm, and it has been translated into no fewer than twenty-five languages. Houellebecq's first novel, published in 1994, was called Extension de la domaine de la lutte (Whatever), and is currently being adapted for the screen. Houellebecq, who now enjoys a cult reputation, already showed his mettle in this brilliant first novel, establishing himself as a decriber of outcasts and a merciless cynicist who can, nevertheless, be cuttingly funny and humane. Houellebecq has also published short prose in Rester vivant et autres textes (1991, To Stay Alive, A Method), a collection of essays, Interventions (1998) and poems, which were published last year in a new collection called Poésies: Le sens du combat, La poursuite du bonheur, Renaissance. His latest work, Lanzarote (2000) combines both texts and photographes. Houellebecq has also recorded his texts and does gigs with rock and jazz musicians from time to time. In these concerts, Houellebecq, who has distanced himself from the tradition of modernist poetry, rhymes and makes people laugh, putting more faith in the classical quatrain than in free verse. On his fan pages in the Internet, he names some of his favourites, including Françoise Hardy, Schubert, ginger rhum, Breat Easton Ellis and Emmanuel Carrère. Houllebecq now lives and works in Ireland.
Photo: Philippe Matsas |
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