A vibrant plea for a return to love and compassion Cover Image

Un vibrant plaidoyer pour un retour à l’amour et à la compassion dans l’œuvre de Michel Houellebecq
A vibrant plea for a return to love and compassion

Author(s): Sabine van Wesemael
Subject(s): Aesthetics, Theory of Literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: machismo; alienation; social factors; end of ironic relativism; another paradigm;

Summary/Abstract: In the work of French writer Michel Houellebecq, contemporary existence is characterized by a deep and pervasive loneliness. This condition arises from the crisis of masculinity, the disappearance of a transcendent or spiritual framework, and the alienating mechanisms of late-capitalist consumer culture. Rather than offering a purely literary diagnosis, Houellebecq develops his critique through a hybrid methodology that combines sociological observation, philosophical reflection, and narrative experimentation. His novels function as laboratories in which the tensions of modernity are staged and dissected, often through provocative exaggeration and irony. Yet Houellebecq’s outlook is not entirely bleak: he also points to the possibility of a paradigm shift in which authenticity, compassion, and love regain primacy. In this way, his work situates itself at the intersection of literature and cultural theory, articulating both a critique of contemporary subjectivity and an appeal to revalorize enduring human values.

  • Issue Year: 2025
  • Issue No: 43
  • Page Range: 49-77
  • Page Count: 29
  • Language: French
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