September and October this year were French literature months for me. With Man's Fate I discovered Andre Malraux , an all time French great , and then Michel Houellebecq a contemporary star.
Submission imagines a scenario where the left in France teams up with a Muslim party to keep National Front and the hard right out of power. The leader of the Islamic party is the charming Ben-Abbes , who is bank rolled by the petro monarchies of the middle east. This leads to the Islamization of the state institutions including educational institutes.
All of this is viewed from the point of view of a washed out literature professor in Paris. He has no lasting relationships and his personal life consists of sleeping with a new student every year.
Michel is obviously a very good writer and presents some radical ideas in a logical fashion. For e.g. as the liberal movement has moved attacking the corporates and the state to attacking the family unit itself it has become like an autoimmune disease, which will lead to its own destruction. With increased labour participation of women leading to lower fertility rates and few marriages liberals will lose the Darwinian population race to more conservative sections of the society.
Very good read.
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