Valéry and Houellebecq: The Death (or the Return) of the Subject.
In this article, I examine two authors who may appear dissimilar in the extreme: Paul Valéry and Michel Houellebecq. Most commonly associated with Monsieur Teste and Pure Poetry, Valéry is considered a hermetic author, inaccessible to a large public, while Houellebecq is perhaps the only contemporar...
| Publicado en: | Australian Journal of French Studies (Liverpool University Press / Journals) Vol. 50; no. 3; pp. 318 - 332 |
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| Formato: | Literary Criticism |
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Liverpool University Press / Journals
Sep-Dec2013
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=93307195&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 93307195 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00049468 FRVF jtl: Australian Journal of French Studies (Liverpool University Press / Journals) issn: 00049468 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep-Dec2013 vid: 50 iid: 3 pid: 1623 pub: Liverpool University Press / Journals artinfo: ui: 93307195 10.3828/AJFS.2013.23 ppf: 318 ppct: 14 formats: tig: atl: Valéry and Houellebecq: The Death (or the Return) of the Subject. aug: au: WEBBER, INSOOK affil: Washington State University, Pullman su: Les particules élémentaires (Book) Le Carte et le territoire (Book) La carte et le territoire (Book) Valéry, Paul, 1871-1945 Houellebecq, Michel, 1958- Poststructuralism Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984 Narcissism in literature sug: subj: Les particules élémentaires (Book) Le Carte et le territoire (Book) La carte et le territoire (Book) Valéry, Paul, 1871-1945 Houellebecq, Michel, 1958- Poststructuralism Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984 Narcissism in literature ab: In this article, I examine two authors who may appear dissimilar in the extreme: Paul Valéry and Michel Houellebecq. Most commonly associated with Monsieur Teste and Pure Poetry, Valéry is considered a hermetic author, inaccessible to a large public, while Houellebecq is perhaps the only contemporary French author who has attained planetary status as a best-selling novelist. Often dismissed by critics who ascribe his fame less to literary merits than to politically incorrect provocations, Houellebecq has also been labelled a New Reactionary. More specifically, he is viewed as representing the "return" of the subject as opposed, and in reaction, to the "death" of the subject which the progressive thinkers of the 1960s and 1970s, and Valéry before them, had theorized. The putative Houellebecquian return of the subject proves, however, to be much more ambivalent than categorical, hence amenable to an opposite interpretation. By means of a pervasive use of contradiction, Houellebecq even seems to obliquely reaffirm the death of the subject. In addition, if the notion of the death of the subject is indelibly linked to poststructuralism, Valéry is an important precursor to it. The bridge thus created between Valéry and Flouellebecq is further reinforced by their shared pessimism about human nature, which leads each to conceive of a new human type. This article will conclude with a rapprochement between Valéry's Monsieur Teste and Houellebecq's humanoid clone as embodying such a new type. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Literary Criticism src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2013 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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