Submission (novel)

Last updated
Submission
Soumission cover.jpg
First edition cover
Author Michel Houellebecq
Original titleSoumission
Translator Lorin Stein
Language French
Publisher Flammarion (France)
Publication date
7 January 2015
Publication place France
Published in English
10 September 2015
Media typePrint
Pages320
ISBN 978-2-08-135480-7

Submission (French : Soumission) is a novel by French writer Michel Houellebecq. [1] The French edition of the book was published on 7 January 2015 by Flammarion, with German (Unterwerfung) and Italian (Sottomissione) translations also published in January. [2] [3] The book instantly became a bestseller in France, Germany and Italy. [4] [5] The English edition of the book, translated by Lorin Stein, was published on 10 September 2015. [6]

Contents

The novel imagines a situation in which a Muslim party upholding Islamist and patriarchal values is able to win the 2022 presidential election in France with the support of the Socialist Party. The book drew an unusual amount of attention because, by coincidence, it was released on the day of the Charlie Hebdo shooting. [7]

The novel mixes fiction with real people: Marine Le Pen, François Hollande, François Bayrou, Manuel Valls, and Jean-François Copé, among others, fleetingly appear as characters in the book. [8]

Plot

The novel's narrator is François, a middle-aged literature professor at Paris 3 and specialist in Huysmans, who in 2022 feels he is at the end of his sentimental and sexual lives – composed largely of year-long liaisons with his students. It has been years since he did any valuable university work. France is in the grip of political crisis – in order to stave off a National Front victory, the Socialists ally with the newly formed Muslim Brotherhood Party, with additional support from the Union for a Popular Movement, formerly the main right-wing party. They propose the charming Islamic candidate Mohammed Ben-Abbes for the presidency against the National Front leader Marine Le Pen. In despair at the emerging political situation, and the inevitability of antisemitism becoming a major force in French politics, the parents of François's young and attractive Jewish girlfriend, Myriam, immigrate to Israel, taking her along with them. His mother and father die. He fears that he is heading towards suicide, and takes refuge at an abbey situated in the town of Ligugé; it is also where his literary hero, Huysmans, became a lay member.

Ben-Abbes wins the election, and becomes President of France. He pacifies the country and enacts sweeping changes to French laws, privatizing the Sorbonne, thereby making François redundant with full pension as only Muslims are now allowed to teach there. He also ends gender equality, allowing polygamy. Several of François's intellectually-inferior colleagues, having converted to Islam, get good jobs and make arranged marriages with attractive young wives. The new president campaigns to enlarge the European Union to include North Africa, the Muslim Levant and Turkey, with the aim of making it a new Roman Empire with the now-Islamicized France at its lead. In this new, different society, with the support of the powerful politician Robert Rediger, the novel ends with François poised to convert to Islam and the prospect of a second, better life, with a prestigious job, and wives chosen for him.

Controversy

The book generated controversy and criticism for its portrayal of Islam. [9] In advance of the novel's publication, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared, "France is not Michel Houellebecq . . . it's not intolerance, hatred, fear." [10] Lydia Kiesling, writing for Slate , stated, "There is a way in which Submission is not, strictly speaking, Islamophobic. But it does Aylan Kurdi no favors." [11] The New York Times likewise argued Submission "plays on French fears of terrorism, immigration and changing demographics." [12]

Houellebecq commented on the novel in an interview with The Paris Review :

… I can't say that the book is a provocation — if that means saying things I consider fundamentally untrue just to get on people's nerves. I condense an evolution that is, in my opinion, realistic. [1]

Rob Doyle of The Irish Times found the themes of the book favourable to Islam, stating Houellebecq "suggests that yielding to the rule of Islam, with its reassuring social and sexual hierarchies, might be a good option for an otherwise terminal Europe." [10] Steven Poole, writing for The Guardian , noted that the book was "arguably, not primarily about politics at all. The real target of Houellebecq's satire — as in his previous novels — is the predictably manipulable venality and lustfulness of the modern metropolitan man, intellectual or otherwise." [13] Adam Shatz, writing for the London Review of Books , states that it "is the work of a nihilist not a hater – the jeu d’esprit of a man without convictions". [14]

Some critics also suggested the novel promoted misogynistic views. Erik Martiny's review in The London Magazine highlighted that "gender hierarchy is presented in the novel as the essential backbone to a healthy, stable society." [15] Heller McAlpin's review for the NPR concluded with the line, "I'm hoping that women, at least, won't take this insulting scenario lying down," while Lydia Kiesling contextualized the book's depiction of women by stating Submission contains an "Evo-Psych 101 correlation of women's worth with their sexual viability" prevalent in both Houellebecq's work and his personal comments. [16] [11]

Publication

On 5 January 2015, French president François Hollande announced in an interview for France Inter radio that he "would read the book, because it's sparking a debate." [17]

The author appeared in a caricature on the front page of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on 7 January 2015, the day when the offices of the newspaper were attacked by masked gunmen who killed eight Charlie Hebdo employees. The title on the cover was: "Les prédictions du mage Houellebecq : en 2015, je perds mes dents, en 2022, je fais ramadan." (English: "The predictions of the sorcerer Houellebecq: In 2015, I lose my teeth. In 2022, I observe Ramadan.") [18]

On the day of the publishing of the book and hours before the attack on Charlie Hebdo, Houellebecq said in an interview for France Inter radio:

There's a real disdain in this country for all the authorities. ... You can feel that this can't continue. Something has to change. I don't know what, but something. [19]

The Italian language translation (Sottomissione) by Vincenzo Vega was published on 15 January 2015 by Bompiani. The German translation (Unterwerfung) by Norma Cassau and Bernd Wilczek was published on 16 January 2015 by DuMont Buchverlag. [20] Lorin Stein translated the book into English. The Spanish language translation (Sumisión) by Joan Riambau was published 29 April 2015 by Anagrama.

Reception

The book was an instant bestseller. [4] [21]

Several critics, including Bruno de Cessole of Valeurs actuelles and Jérôme Dupuis of L'Express , compared the novel to Jean Raspail's 1973 novel The Camp of the Saints , a novel about the political impotence of Europe during a massive wave of immigration from India. [22] [23] Grégoire Leménager of L'Obs downplayed the similarities to The Camp of the Saints, as Submission does not deal with ethnicity, and instead placed Houellebecq's novel within a trend of recent French novels about immigration and Islam, together with La Mémoire de Clara by Patrick Besson, Dawa by Julien Suaudeau and Les Événements by Jean Rolin, speculating that the concept of the "Great Replacement" ("Grand Remplacement"), as formulated by Renaud Camus, was becoming fashionable as a literary device. [24] The book has also been seen as inspired by Bat Ye'or's Eurabia thesis. [25] [26]

Marine Le Pen commented in an interview with France Info radio that the novel is "a fiction that could one day become reality." [19]

Mark Lilla, in The New York Review of Books , stated similarly that "Europe in 2022 has to find another way to escape the present, and 'Islam' just happens to be the name of the next clone." [27]

French novelist Emmanuel Carrère compared Submission to George Orwell's 1984 . [28]

Adaptations

A monologue stage performance with Edgar Selge as François toured Germany in early 2016 with dates in Hamburg, Dresden and Berlin. According to Die Zeit , interest in the story was piqued by the New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany. [29] A German film adaptation, based both on the novel and the stage performance, was produced by the television channel Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg as Unterwerfung . The film stars Selge who reprises his role from the stage version. [30] The film premiered on German public broadcaster ARD on 6 June 2018, followed by a roundtable, [31] which resulted in "a broad internet discussion," in calls for all German political talkshows to be suspended for one year, [32] and in an apology from ARD presenter Sandra Maischberger. [33]

Comparison with The Strange Death of Europe

In 2020 Ivan Strenski, professor of religious studies at the University of California in Riverside, published in the academic journal Terrorism and Political Violence an extensive comparison of Houellebecq's novel with the non-fiction book and bestseller The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray. Both authors would strongly emphasize the risk of a near end of traditional European culture.

Murray could not have imagined a better metaphor for a dying Europe than Houellebecq’s portrayal of France’s ‘general atmosphere of tacit and lazy acceptance’ of its Islamization. [34]

Editions and translations

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michel Houellebecq</span> French writer (born 1956)

Michel Houellebecq is a French author of novels, poems and essays, as well as an occasional actor, filmmaker and singer. His first book was a biographical essay on the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Houellebecq published his first novel, Whatever, in 1994. His next novel, Atomised, published in 1998, brought him international fame as well as controversy. Platform followed in 2001. He has published several books of poetry, including The Art of Struggle in 1996.

Frank Wynne is an Irish literary translator and writer.

Submission is the acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the power of one's superior or superiors.

<i>Atomised</i> 1998 novel by Michel Houellebecq

Atomised, also known as The Elementary Particles, is a novel by the French author Michel Houellebecq, published in France in 1998. It tells the story of two half-brothers, Michel and Bruno, and their mental struggles against their situations in modern society. It was translated into English by Frank Wynne as Atomised in the UK and as The Elementary Particles in the US. It won the International Dublin Literary Award for writer and translator.

Charlie Hebdo is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. The publication has been described as anti-racist, sceptical, secular, libertarian, and within the tradition of left-wing radicalism, publishing articles about the far-right, religion, politics and culture.

<i>Platform</i> (novel) 2001 novel by Michel Houellebecq

Platform is a 2001 novel by French writer Michel Houellebecq. It has received both great praise and great criticism, most notably for the novel's apparent condoning of sex tourism and Islamophobia. After describing Islam as "the most stupid religion" in a published interview about the book, Houellebecq was charged for inciting racial and religious hatred but the charges were ultimately dismissed, as it has been ruled that the right to free speech encompasses the right to criticize religions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">François Cavanna</span> French writer and satirical newspaper editor (1923–2014)

François Cavanna was a French author and satirical newspaper editor.

<i>Charlie Hebdo</i> shooting 2015 terrorist attack in Paris, France

On 7 January 2015, at about 11:30 a.m. in Paris, France, the employees of the French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo were targeted in a terrorist shooting attack by two French-born Algerian Muslim brothers, Saïd Kouachi and Chérif Kouachi. Armed with rifles and other weapons, the duo murdered 12 people and injured 11 others; they identified themselves as members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which claimed responsibility for the attack. They fled after the shooting, triggering a manhunt, and were killed by the GIGN on 9 January. The Kouachi brothers' attack was followed by several related Islamist terrorist attacks across the Île-de-France between 7 and 9 January 2015, including the Hypercacher kosher supermarket siege, in which a French-born Malian Muslim took hostages and murdered four people before being killed by French commandos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charb</span> French satirist and journalist

Stéphane Jean-Abel Michel Charbonnier, better known as Charb, was a French satirical caricaturist and journalist. He was assassinated during the Charlie Hebdo shooting on 7 January 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Maris</span> French economist, writer and journalist (1946–2015)

Bernard Henri Maris, also known as "Oncle Bernard", was a French economist, writer and journalist who was also a shareholder in Charlie Hebdo magazine. He was murdered on 7 January 2015, during the shooting at the headquarters of the magazine in Paris.

<i>Je suis Charlie</i> Statement

"Je suis Charlie" is a slogan and logo created by French art director Joachim Roncin and adopted by supporters of freedom of speech and freedom of the press after the 7 January 2015 shooting in which twelve people were killed at the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo. It identifies a speaker or supporter with those who were killed at the Charlie Hebdo shooting, and by extension, a supporter of freedom of speech and resistance to armed threats. Some journalists embraced the expression as a rallying cry for the freedom of self-expression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riss (cartoonist)</span> French cartoonist and author

Laurent "Riss" Sourisseau is a French cartoonist, author and publisher. Since 1992, he has worked for the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo and is now its majority owner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Republican marches</span> Series of rallies across France in 2015

The Republican marches were a series of rallies that took place in cities across France on 10–11 January 2015 to honour the victims of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, the Montrouge shooting and the Porte de Vincennes siege, as well as to voice support for freedom of speech and freedom of the press. French government officials estimated that the rallies were attended by up to 3.7 million people nationwide, making them the largest public rallies in French history. By their broad appeal, they were the first mass movement of their kind since 1944, when Paris was liberated from the Germans at the end of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">January 2015 Île-de-France attacks</span> Series of terrorist attacks in France

From 7 to 9 January 2015, terrorist attacks occurred across the Île-de-France region, particularly in Paris. Three attackers killed a total of 17 people in four shooting attacks, and police then killed the three assailants. The attacks also wounded 22 other people. A fifth shooting attack did not result in any fatalities. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility and said that the coordinated attacks had been planned for years. The claim of responsibility for the deadly attack on the magazine came in a video showing AQAP commander Nasr Ibn Ali al-Ansi, with gunmen in the background that were later identified as the Kouachi brothers. However, while authorities say the video is authentic, there is no proof that AQAP helped to carry out the attacks. Amedy Coulibaly, who committed another leg of the attacks claimed that he belonged to ISIS before he died.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Malka</span> French lawyer and writer (born 1968)

Richard Malka is a French lawyer, comics writer and novelist. As lawyer Malka in 2007 successfully defended Charlie Hebdo editor Philippe Val against charges of racism following the magazine's publication of Mohammad caricatures. Other clients include Clearstream, Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Caroline Fourest.

<i>The Notre Dame de Paris Mosque</i> 2005 novel by Elena Petrovna Chudinova

The Notre Dame de Paris Mosque is a dystopian novel written by Russian author Elena Chudinova. The novel takes place in 2048 in France, taken over and ruled by Muslim immigrants. The book is written from an anti-Islamic, and as the author asserts, Orthodox Christian viewpoint. Chudinova, who calls herself a committed Christian, calls the genre of this book, "both a novel and a mission".

Unterwerfung ("submission") is a 2018 German television drama film directed by Titus Selge and starring Edgar Selge. It is based on the 2015 novel Submission by Michel Houellebecq and a German stage adaptation of the novel.

<i>Serotonin</i> (novel) Novel by Michel Houellebecq

Serotonin is a novel by French writer Michel Houellebecq, published in January 2019.

<i>Annihilation</i> (Houellebecq novel) 2022 novel by Michel Houellebecq

Annihilation is a novel by Michel Houellebecq, published on 7 January 2022 by Éditions Flammarion. An English translation by Shaun Whiteside was published in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michel Houellebecq bibliography</span>

Michel Houellebecq is a French writer and occasional actor, film director and singer.

References

  1. 1 2 Bourmeau, Sylvain (2 January 2015). "Scare Tactics: Michel Houellebecq Defends His Controversial New Book". The Paris Review . Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  2. ↑ Willsher, Kim (16 December 2014). "Michel Houellebecq provokes France with story of Muslim president". The Guardian . Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Après le buzz, "Soumission" de Michel Houellebecq arrive en librairie" (in French). Libération. 7 January 2015. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  4. 1 2 Flood, Alison (16 January 2015). "Houellebecq's Soumission becomes instant bestseller in wake of Paris attacks". The Guardian . Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Grey, Tobias (22 September 2015). "Houellebecq's 'Submission' Comes to America". Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "Submission by Michel Houellebecq: This provocative novel charts France's plunge into Islamism". International Business Times . 28 August 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  7. ↑ Rosenthal, John (May 2015). "Houellebecq's 'Submission': Islam and France's Malaise". World Affairs. Archived from the original on 21 November 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ↑ "Bayrou stupide et Copé moche : quand Houellebecq dézingue les politiques" (in French). Metro News. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  9. ↑ ""'Islamophobic' novel hits the shelves in France"". The Local. January 7, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  10. 1 2 Doyle, Rob (September 12, 2015). ""Review: Submission, by Michel Houellebecq"". The Irish Times. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  11. 1 2 Kiesling, Lydia (2015-10-06). "The Elegant Bigotry of Michel Houellebecq's Submission". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  12. ↑ Kakutani, Michiko (2015-11-03). "Review: Michel Houellebecq's 'Submission' Imagines France as a Muslim State". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  13. ↑ Poole, Steven (9 January 2015). "Soumission by Michel Houellebecq review – much more than a satire on Islamism". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  14. ↑ 'Colombey-les-deux-Mosquées,'
  15. ↑ "Submission by Michel Houellebecq review". The London Magazine. 2015-07-27. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  16. ↑ McAlpin, Heller (20 October 2015). "Don't Take 'Submission' Lying Down". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  17. ↑ Fouquet, Helene (7 January 2015). "Was Attack Linked to Novel About France Under Islamist President?". Bloomberg . Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  18. ↑ Kachka, Boris (8 January 2015). "What Michel Houellebecq Represented to the Charlie Hebdo Shooters". Vulture. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  19. 1 2 "Paris terror attack: Controversial book launched on same day as attack". The New Zealand Herald. 8 January 2015. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  20. ↑ "Michel Houellebecq über "Unterwerfung": "Meine Thriller-Seite"" (in German). Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. 4 January 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  21. ↑ Samuel, Henry; Marszal, Andrew (7 January 2015). "'Islamophobic' Michel Houellebecq book featured by Charlie Hebdo published today". Telegraph.co.uk . Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  22. ↑ Cessole, Bruno de (8 January 2015). "Celui par qui le scandale arrive". Valeurs Actuelles (in French). pp. 20–21. Archived from the original on 8 August 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  23. ↑ Dupuis, Jérôme (7 January 2015). "Soumission de Houellebecq: Big Brother revu par Guignol". L'Express (in French). Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  24. ↑ Leménager, Grégoire (18 December 2014). "Houellebecq, Besson, Rolin... 'le Grand Remplacement', sujet de roman?". Le Nouvel Observateur (in French). Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  25. ↑ D'Arcens, Louise (2021). World Medievalism: The Middle Ages in Modern Textual Culture. Oxford University. p. 28. ISBN   9780198825944.
  26. ↑ Yaqin, Amina; Morey, Peter; Soliman, Asmaa (2018). Muslims, Trust and Multiculturalism: New Directions. Springer. p. 35. ISBN   9783319713090.
  27. ↑ Slouching Towards Mecca
  28. ↑ "Irrepressible". The Economist. 10 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  29. ↑ "A French Muslim president? New play hits raw nerves". Al-Arabiya. Agence France-Presse. 9 March 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  30. ↑ dpa-infocom (6 November 2017). "Edgar Selge dreht Houellebecqs 'Unterwerfung'". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  31. ↑ Matthias Dell (6 June 2018). "From lust to the horror scenario". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 14 June 2018. Submission" premieres on Wednesday, June 6, at 8.15 pm and is then available in the media library. Sandra Maischberger discusses the film in her subsequent talk show with the title: " The Islam debate: Where does the tolerance end?
  32. ↑ "Kulturrat calls for a one-year break for talk shows". Die Zeit . 7 June 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2018. The aim of the German Cultural Council is to "stimulate cultural policy discussion at all political levels and to advocate freedom of the arts, publications and information."
  33. ↑ "Sandra Maischberger admits errors in Islam broadcast". Berliner Morgenpost (in German). 13 June 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2018. The ARD presenter Sandra Maischberger rejects the demand for a break for talk shows
  34. ↑ Ivan Strenski: Prospects for the Death of Europe: Islam, Christianity, the Future Identity of Europe. In: Terrorism and Political Violence. Vol 32, issue 3, 2020, p. 654-680, doi:10.1080/09546553.2020.1733341 (Review), PDF.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.