Abstract
The novels of Michel Houellebecq criticise the individualistic and consumerist nature of developed society, while remembering a time when communism was still taken seriously, the family unit was intact, women were nurturing and "natural", and religion played a moralising role. Nostalgia for a golden past, and contempt for the present, shape the imagined futures in four of Houellebecq's novels. This article examines this nostalgia for pre-1968, and how its rose-tinted memory and the perceived damage of the revolution's legacy influence i Iouellebecq's futures, wherein he first moves humanity further away from the idealised past in Les Particules elementaires and La Possibiliti d'une lie before attempting a return to those values in La Carte et le territoire and Soumission.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 189-205 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Essays in French Literature and Culture |
| Issue number | 55 |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2018 |