Houellebecq's France

This article starts from the observation that in 'La Carte et le territoire' and 'Soumission', Houellebecq thematizes the current state of France more directly than he had done in previous novels. Focussing on 'La Carte et le territoire' as the site where this developme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAustralian journal of French studies Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 24 - 36
Main Author Crowley, Martin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Liverpool Liverpool University Press 01.04.2019
Subjects
Fiction
French literature
Houellebecq, Michel (1956- )
Mimesis in literature
Novels
Technique
Text analysis
Themes, motives
Writers
France
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Summary:This article starts from the observation that in 'La Carte et le territoire' and 'Soumission', Houellebecq thematizes the current state of France more directly than he had done in previous novels. Focussing on 'La Carte et le territoire' as the site where this development begins, the article examines how this novel represents France: not just what vision it offers of the country, but in particular, the techniques it employs to present this. Through detailed textual analysis, the article builds a picture of Houellebecq's referential protocol as composed of invitations to synecdochic extrapolation punctured by moments of literal reproduction, and shows that the meaning of 'La Carte et le territoire' resides in the relation between these two techniques.
Bibliography:AustJFrenchSt.jpg
Australian Journal of French Studies, Vol. 56, No. 1, Apr 2019: [24]-36
ISSN:0004-9468
2046-2913
DOI:10.3828/AJFS.2019.03