Mozambiguous
Member
Who here is going to read Michel Houellebecq's 'Soumission', which hits stores today? I will, as soon as I can get hold of an English language translation. Perhaps they already have been translated, even before the French version comes out, and they're shipped abroad to be released at the same time? I'm not sure how it works, but I doubt Monsieur Houellebecq will deny publishers the right to translate his work for overseas consumption - that's the territory of a certain English singer-songwriter. [Speaking of whom, his upcoming novel could easily explore similar themes to 'Soumission', if past comments are anything to go by. Will he allow his trolling tendencies to seep into his fiction? Would he have the audacity? That's an in-depth discussion for another thread, which we'll return to at a later date.]
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...e-says-novel-is-not-islamophobic-9958954.html - Houellebecq looks more like Phil Spector with each passing year. It's a shame that his novels can't act like a 'Portrait of Dorian Gray' for him, but he seems to carry around the torment and suspicion in his everyday life.
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/01/02/scare-tactics-michel-houellebecq-on-his-new-book/ - in this picture he looks identical to A.N. Wilson. I'm not sure which is worse.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02386/an-wilson-portrait_2386772b.jpg
I've been aware of Houellebecq since two years ago when a 78 year old man walked into a French cathedral and shot himself in front of 500 people in protest against same-sex marriage legislation, and also as a warning "that the "population of France and Europe" were going to be "replaced" and brought under "Islamist control" and "sharia law".
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-in-protest-against-gay-marriage-8625877.html
Houellebecq's name came up during the ensuing furore. I note in the first article above that Houellebecq was "prosecuted and acquitted" for his comments on Islam in 2002, where he called it "the most stupid religion" in an interview. If he was tried for that, then why was Christopher Hitchens not arrested for saying basically the same thing (in fact he went a step further and called the religion's teachings "bullshit") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tN75e5gtw4
I clasped my head in agony when I saw this video three months ago (skip to 1:15 to see Ben Affleck blowing a gasket about Bill Maher and his guest criticising aspects of Islam, and Liberals' cowardice on the subject - if you haven't seen it already) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vln9D81eO60
It's brave of Houellebecq to write a book about this, when you consider the Salman Rushdie fatwa, the reaction to the prophet Muhammad cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2005, and the killing of Theo Van Gogh in 2004 because of a film where he called into question the treatment of women in Muslim societies. The film was called 'Submission' - the same as Houellebecq's book. http://www.france24.com/en/20110916...dsk-tristane-banon-socialists-hollande-royal/
The reaction to the book is telling; there has been uproar even before its release. I'm reminded of the banning of Madame Bovary and trial of Flaubert during the 1850s and wonder if the current era is as progressive as we'd like to think. There can be little doubt, that if they could incriminate Houellebecq, and ban his book, then some modern 'progressives' would do so with glee. For that I'm eager to read it; but without the commotion it would have passed by unnoticed. The discussion is needed, although some 'liberal' people have been trying to contain it, and silence 'dissidents', for well over a decade. That post-colonial guilt rears its shameful head again. I wonder where Zizek et al. (public intellectuals) stand on this issue?
Dieudonné was successfully silenced by the French Establishment a year ago. Francois Hollande says he'll read Houellebecq's book; however he wanted Dieudonné's shows to be shut down at the time. I couldn't judge for myself as none of his videos online were translated into English - it's at times like these that I wish I were multilingual - but from what I read, I could see why the government took the position that they did (Dieudonné is purportedly an anti-semite and holocaust denier, and a 'comedian' - who had an influence on some footballers and other celebrities with his 'anti-Establishment' hand gesture - some say its an anti-semitic inverted-Nazi salute - called the 'quenelle').
http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/67/590x/secondary/119455.jpg
http://www.theguardian.com/theobser...s-hollande-support-ban-comedian-france-debate
http://oi57.tinypic.com/312jt3l.jpg
http://oi62.tinypic.com/5bbqcg.jpg -Wait a minute, he's not doing what I think he's doing, is he? LOL! Get the NME on the phone, we have our latest exposé!
I thought Hollande would similarly support a ban on Houellebecq's book, so I was surprised when he said that he'll read the book himself. It seems somewhat inconsistent. You would think he would support either the banning of both men's work or of none. Especially because Houellebecq's book *will* be used by some far-right protesters as a justification for their actions.
Hollande probably should have opted out of both discussions, or at least waited until reading the book before commenting. I thought one of the fundamental principles of European societies is that you defeat your opponents with logic and reason, not by attempting to censor them (take note, 16th century freedom-of-speech decriers of Morrissey-solo).
As pernicious as Dieudonné and his supporters seem, it may have been wiser not to ban his shows, because then you only give him more fire-power against Establishment figures, and his admirers feel aggrieved and wronged. But it is indicative of Europe in the current era, where even leading figures have no definite values, and consequently they jump back and forth on different issues, often seeming hypocritical or conflicted.
Even some Feminists, who fight for women's rights in Europe, will still call people 'Islamophobic' for their criticism of Islam and Muslim societies, despite many of the women there having the bleakest of existences, beyond our comprehension.
We're living in a very confused society. But I'm looking forward to the book. Which may make some things clearer - and encourage a discussion of Europe's future and what kind of society we want it to become - or it may descend into chaos and make modern life seem even starker and less stable than before. Time will tell.
(Or we could avoid reading it, and all the palaver will die down within a few weeks, and we'll forget it ever occurred.)
But no, I'm intrigued by it all. It's a Cause Célèbre. He was very clever to release the book so soon before the French Presidential election, I'll give him that, considering the issues on which some of the candidates will be campaigning it was bound to attract attention . Along with 'The Interview' film, it's likely to be looked upon as one of the defining releases of this year - with the buzz entirely micromanaged by the ubiquitous and all-powerful media conglomerates of course.
On the artistic merit of Houellebecq's work, I found this too, from 2010: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ebecq-accused-of-Wikipedia-cut-and-paste.html
It cheapens the upcoming work if true. I can see him typing at his computer, stopping to Google something, reading it for two minutes, then pasting a couple of the sentences into his word file. It only would have taken an extra two minutes to completely rewrite the sentences, or to leave them out entirely. It's not like the passages which he was accused of plagiarising were at all riveting.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...rs-Behring-Breivik-plagiarised-Unabomber.html
Both of those Telegraph articles are full of spelling errors. It's a shame that the articles' authors didn't copy-and-paste some sentences from people who could spell. In this case, two 500 word news stories, it would have been a marked improvement on their own writing.
'Mozambiguous' wrote the above post earlier this morning. Although he's in the process of retiring from Morrissey-solo.com (maybe permanently, or will he "come back like Jordan wearing the 4-5"?), he decided to have one last hurrah before he leaves. He might email me his thoughts on 'Soumission' after he reads it, and I would be more than happy to post his findings here, that is unless he wants a *complete* break from this website. He's still plotting his next step, and I know better than to ask before he's ready to divulge.
Hopefully the above musings will spark an invigorating debate on the book in question. 'Mozambiguous' won't be able to partake, I offer my condolences to you all, as you're really missing out, but he doesn't post here any more. However, I will keep an eye on how the thread develops, and report back to him with any pertinent comments. So now, in the words of Admiral General Aladeen "enjoy, enjoy". There'll be no censoring here! You can breathe free and be happy, and debate to your heart's content.
See you again in 25 years,
Sookie R. Wang, secretary, and informant, to the poster formerly known as 'Mozambiguous'
Vive la France!
http://pics.filmaffinity.com/Vive_la_France-972443544-large.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mOrkSF8HQI
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...e-says-novel-is-not-islamophobic-9958954.html - Houellebecq looks more like Phil Spector with each passing year. It's a shame that his novels can't act like a 'Portrait of Dorian Gray' for him, but he seems to carry around the torment and suspicion in his everyday life.
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/01/02/scare-tactics-michel-houellebecq-on-his-new-book/ - in this picture he looks identical to A.N. Wilson. I'm not sure which is worse.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02386/an-wilson-portrait_2386772b.jpg
I've been aware of Houellebecq since two years ago when a 78 year old man walked into a French cathedral and shot himself in front of 500 people in protest against same-sex marriage legislation, and also as a warning "that the "population of France and Europe" were going to be "replaced" and brought under "Islamist control" and "sharia law".
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-in-protest-against-gay-marriage-8625877.html
Houellebecq's name came up during the ensuing furore. I note in the first article above that Houellebecq was "prosecuted and acquitted" for his comments on Islam in 2002, where he called it "the most stupid religion" in an interview. If he was tried for that, then why was Christopher Hitchens not arrested for saying basically the same thing (in fact he went a step further and called the religion's teachings "bullshit") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tN75e5gtw4
I clasped my head in agony when I saw this video three months ago (skip to 1:15 to see Ben Affleck blowing a gasket about Bill Maher and his guest criticising aspects of Islam, and Liberals' cowardice on the subject - if you haven't seen it already) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vln9D81eO60
It's brave of Houellebecq to write a book about this, when you consider the Salman Rushdie fatwa, the reaction to the prophet Muhammad cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2005, and the killing of Theo Van Gogh in 2004 because of a film where he called into question the treatment of women in Muslim societies. The film was called 'Submission' - the same as Houellebecq's book. http://www.france24.com/en/20110916...dsk-tristane-banon-socialists-hollande-royal/
The reaction to the book is telling; there has been uproar even before its release. I'm reminded of the banning of Madame Bovary and trial of Flaubert during the 1850s and wonder if the current era is as progressive as we'd like to think. There can be little doubt, that if they could incriminate Houellebecq, and ban his book, then some modern 'progressives' would do so with glee. For that I'm eager to read it; but without the commotion it would have passed by unnoticed. The discussion is needed, although some 'liberal' people have been trying to contain it, and silence 'dissidents', for well over a decade. That post-colonial guilt rears its shameful head again. I wonder where Zizek et al. (public intellectuals) stand on this issue?
Dieudonné was successfully silenced by the French Establishment a year ago. Francois Hollande says he'll read Houellebecq's book; however he wanted Dieudonné's shows to be shut down at the time. I couldn't judge for myself as none of his videos online were translated into English - it's at times like these that I wish I were multilingual - but from what I read, I could see why the government took the position that they did (Dieudonné is purportedly an anti-semite and holocaust denier, and a 'comedian' - who had an influence on some footballers and other celebrities with his 'anti-Establishment' hand gesture - some say its an anti-semitic inverted-Nazi salute - called the 'quenelle').
http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/67/590x/secondary/119455.jpg
http://www.theguardian.com/theobser...s-hollande-support-ban-comedian-france-debate
http://oi57.tinypic.com/312jt3l.jpg
http://oi62.tinypic.com/5bbqcg.jpg -Wait a minute, he's not doing what I think he's doing, is he? LOL! Get the NME on the phone, we have our latest exposé!
I thought Hollande would similarly support a ban on Houellebecq's book, so I was surprised when he said that he'll read the book himself. It seems somewhat inconsistent. You would think he would support either the banning of both men's work or of none. Especially because Houellebecq's book *will* be used by some far-right protesters as a justification for their actions.
Hollande probably should have opted out of both discussions, or at least waited until reading the book before commenting. I thought one of the fundamental principles of European societies is that you defeat your opponents with logic and reason, not by attempting to censor them (take note, 16th century freedom-of-speech decriers of Morrissey-solo).
As pernicious as Dieudonné and his supporters seem, it may have been wiser not to ban his shows, because then you only give him more fire-power against Establishment figures, and his admirers feel aggrieved and wronged. But it is indicative of Europe in the current era, where even leading figures have no definite values, and consequently they jump back and forth on different issues, often seeming hypocritical or conflicted.
Even some Feminists, who fight for women's rights in Europe, will still call people 'Islamophobic' for their criticism of Islam and Muslim societies, despite many of the women there having the bleakest of existences, beyond our comprehension.
We're living in a very confused society. But I'm looking forward to the book. Which may make some things clearer - and encourage a discussion of Europe's future and what kind of society we want it to become - or it may descend into chaos and make modern life seem even starker and less stable than before. Time will tell.
(Or we could avoid reading it, and all the palaver will die down within a few weeks, and we'll forget it ever occurred.)
But no, I'm intrigued by it all. It's a Cause Célèbre. He was very clever to release the book so soon before the French Presidential election, I'll give him that, considering the issues on which some of the candidates will be campaigning it was bound to attract attention . Along with 'The Interview' film, it's likely to be looked upon as one of the defining releases of this year - with the buzz entirely micromanaged by the ubiquitous and all-powerful media conglomerates of course.
On the artistic merit of Houellebecq's work, I found this too, from 2010: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ebecq-accused-of-Wikipedia-cut-and-paste.html
It cheapens the upcoming work if true. I can see him typing at his computer, stopping to Google something, reading it for two minutes, then pasting a couple of the sentences into his word file. It only would have taken an extra two minutes to completely rewrite the sentences, or to leave them out entirely. It's not like the passages which he was accused of plagiarising were at all riveting.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...rs-Behring-Breivik-plagiarised-Unabomber.html
Both of those Telegraph articles are full of spelling errors. It's a shame that the articles' authors didn't copy-and-paste some sentences from people who could spell. In this case, two 500 word news stories, it would have been a marked improvement on their own writing.
'Mozambiguous' wrote the above post earlier this morning. Although he's in the process of retiring from Morrissey-solo.com (maybe permanently, or will he "come back like Jordan wearing the 4-5"?), he decided to have one last hurrah before he leaves. He might email me his thoughts on 'Soumission' after he reads it, and I would be more than happy to post his findings here, that is unless he wants a *complete* break from this website. He's still plotting his next step, and I know better than to ask before he's ready to divulge.
Hopefully the above musings will spark an invigorating debate on the book in question. 'Mozambiguous' won't be able to partake, I offer my condolences to you all, as you're really missing out, but he doesn't post here any more. However, I will keep an eye on how the thread develops, and report back to him with any pertinent comments. So now, in the words of Admiral General Aladeen "enjoy, enjoy". There'll be no censoring here! You can breathe free and be happy, and debate to your heart's content.
See you again in 25 years,
Sookie R. Wang, secretary, and informant, to the poster formerly known as 'Mozambiguous'
Vive la France!
http://pics.filmaffinity.com/Vive_la_France-972443544-large.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mOrkSF8HQI
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