7
edits
Whatever (novel): Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
slight corrections (domaine with e)
m (→Criticism: he isn't and never will be a chad) |
(slight corrections (domaine with e)) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
'''''Whatever''''' (French: ''Extension du | '''''Whatever''''' (French title : ''Extension du domaine de la lutte'' literally '''''Extension of the domain of struggle''''') is the 1994 debut novel by French writer [[Michel Houellebecq|Michel Houellebecq]]. The French title refers to the main character's criticism of [[sexual sublimation]]. In other words, the character's criticism that the class struggle has extended to the realm of relations between the sexes, resulting in similarly unequal social hierarchies, stratifying the sexual marketplace into sexual 'haves' and sexual 'have nots'. The English title, "Whatever", is a pithy example of the main characters dismissive and nihilistic view of life. The main character of the novel, Harel, lives through inceldom. It is perhaps the most frank depiction of [[inceldom]] ever in literature, containing arguments about [[inceldom]] that the media later attributed to incel forums around 2018. The novel was made into a [[Whatever - Extension du domaine de la lutte (movie)|film in 1999]]. | ||
Like most of Houellebecq's novels, it is written in a darkly humorous style, is highly offensive and vulgar at times, and contains sharp criticisms/observations of the widespread social atomization, materialism and consumerism he implies is a result of modern Capitalism and Liberalism. Its acknowledgement of a social hierarchy as being instinctive to human sexuality makes it arguably among the most [[sexual realism|sexual realist]], [[blackpilled]] novels in history.<ref>https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/whatever-1994-by-michel-houellebecq-a-superb-declaration-of-hostilities-1.3919923</ref> | Like most of Houellebecq's novels, it is written in a darkly humorous style, is highly offensive and vulgar at times, and contains sharp criticisms/observations of the widespread social atomization, materialism and consumerism he implies is a result of modern Capitalism and Liberalism. Its acknowledgement of a social hierarchy as being instinctive to human sexuality makes it arguably among the most [[sexual realism|sexual realist]], [[blackpilled]] novels in history.<ref>https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/whatever-1994-by-michel-houellebecq-a-superb-declaration-of-hostilities-1.3919923</ref> | ||
| Line 32: | Line 32: | ||
{{Quote|"Lacking in looks as well as personal charm [..] I don’t in the least correspond to what women are usually looking for in a man,” the narrator confesses. Houellebecq has always seen himself as speaking for and to such men"|Adam Kirsch in the New York Times}} | {{Quote|"Lacking in looks as well as personal charm [..] I don’t in the least correspond to what women are usually looking for in a man,” the narrator confesses. Houellebecq has always seen himself as speaking for and to such men"|Adam Kirsch in the New York Times}} | ||
Houllebecq is an ugly man himself who often writes himself into his protagonists to a degree, so it is not unbelievable that he would be able to illustrate what life is like for an incel in a sympathetic and foreboding manner. Whatever was not written in the spirit of being a [[chad]]. The main reason being the novel was a self-autobiographical work about his life after a crumbling and extremely short marriage (his first). This was the period of his life between 1988-1991 when he was a nobody, had no public accomplishment under his belt, became a programmer, fell into a depression, visited psychiatric hospitals, experienced periods of unemployement, had no partner etc<ref>https://quillette.com/2019/04/10/michel-houellebecq-prophet-or-troll/</ref>, major themes in the book Whatever. Houllebecq attained status after this point in his life, when his writing career started building in the 1990s. His writing eventually took off after his first published hit in 1998, the same year he found a partner again.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/nov/05/fiction.michelhouellebecq</ref> | Houllebecq is an ugly man himself who often writes himself into his protagonists to a degree, so it is not unbelievable that he would be able to illustrate what life is like for an incel in a sympathetic and foreboding manner. Whatever was not written in the spirit of being a [[chad]]. The main reason being the novel was a self-autobiographical work about his life after a crumbling and extremely short marriage (his first). This was the period of his life between 1988-1991 when he was a nobody, had no public accomplishment under his belt, became a programmer, fell into a depression, visited psychiatric hospitals, experienced periods of unemployement, had no partner etc<ref>https://quillette.com/2019/04/10/michel-houellebecq-prophet-or-troll/</ref>, major themes in the book Whatever. Houllebecq attained status after this point in his life, when his writing career started building in the 1990s. His writing eventually took off after his first published hit in 1998, the same year he found a partner again.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/nov/05/fiction.michelhouellebecq</ref> | ||
== References == | == References == | ||
<references /> | <references /> | ||