Post by pimpinainteasy on Nov 26, 2018 17:19:20 GMT
any fans? i recently reread WHATEVER:
Whatever is a truly entertaining and dangerous novel. Entertaining because Houellebecq must have had a lot of fun while writing it, thinking about all the people he would piss off. I certainly had a lot of fun reading it. It is dangerous for a number of reasons. Any office worker with any soul left, who happens to discover Whatever, would have trouble reporting for work the next day. The sexually unfulfilled (incels?) and the physiologically deficient might feel that they have finally found a writer to voice their grievances. Houellebecq's hostility towards different aspects of the emerging capitalism fueled global mono culture including interracial relationships, shopping malls etc is sure to inspire a lot of hazardous people.
Whatever is about a French computer programmer who cannot get laid because he is ugly. The lack of success in the sexual realm fills him with misery and hatred and jealousy at the world at large. In his free time, he writes weird stories involving conversations between animals and also muses on the consequences of economic and sexual liberalism. He is sent on a work related project with an equally ugly colleague even as his mental health deteriorates. At a discotheque, when he and his colleague are relegated to the sidelines of the dance-floor, a murderous sexual rage possesses him and he hatches a diabolical plan that involves murder of an interracial couple. The book is virtually plot less. It is like a beautiful one sided debate where the main character gets to espouse his commentary on modern French society.
The central theme of the novel as espoused by the computer programmer is that sexual liberalization has left many ugly and physically deficient people without a sexual partner. In this liberalized system, some people (the beautiful and the strong) have a fulfilling sex life while for others (the ugly and the physically wretched), the lack of sexual fulfillment only compounds the horror of modern life. This system is not too different from economic liberalization where the industrious gather all the wealth while the incompetent end up as paupers.
I think Houellebecq has unearthed a difficult modern problem whose effects are pervasive across the world. Some years ago, when I worked in Mumbai, a colleague of mine who was good at his job, average looking and shy in his interactions with women, lamented about the increasing number of live in relationships in India. He said he was not "getting anyone" while some of his friends had moved in with their girlfriends. My colleague was victorious in the newly liberalized Indian economy where a man who is good at his job could amass wealth. But he was a failure in the increasingly liberalized sexual system where you had to be handsome and charming. India is still a conservative country where men seek out females through arranged marriage (usually arranged by parents). But the number of "love marriages" and "live in relationships" are on the rise and this is making a lot of people very uncomfortable. Once upon a time, the ugliest of Indian males was guaranteed a mate through arranged marriage. But increasingly (as Indian society gets more liberalized and women gain more rights) this old guarantee of a partner is not sacrosanct anymore. I expect a few Indian imitators of Houellebecq in the years to come or maybe even worse, imitators of the characters in this novel.
Julian Barnes said that Houellebecq was a big game hunter. He is right. Whatever is a Tsar Bomba that might fall into the hands of the wrong people. But some of us out here are really bored with our lives. And we need dangerous novels like Whatever to "tickle out cement souls back into life"as Bukowski said.
Whatever is about a French computer programmer who cannot get laid because he is ugly. The lack of success in the sexual realm fills him with misery and hatred and jealousy at the world at large. In his free time, he writes weird stories involving conversations between animals and also muses on the consequences of economic and sexual liberalism. He is sent on a work related project with an equally ugly colleague even as his mental health deteriorates. At a discotheque, when he and his colleague are relegated to the sidelines of the dance-floor, a murderous sexual rage possesses him and he hatches a diabolical plan that involves murder of an interracial couple. The book is virtually plot less. It is like a beautiful one sided debate where the main character gets to espouse his commentary on modern French society.
The central theme of the novel as espoused by the computer programmer is that sexual liberalization has left many ugly and physically deficient people without a sexual partner. In this liberalized system, some people (the beautiful and the strong) have a fulfilling sex life while for others (the ugly and the physically wretched), the lack of sexual fulfillment only compounds the horror of modern life. This system is not too different from economic liberalization where the industrious gather all the wealth while the incompetent end up as paupers.
I think Houellebecq has unearthed a difficult modern problem whose effects are pervasive across the world. Some years ago, when I worked in Mumbai, a colleague of mine who was good at his job, average looking and shy in his interactions with women, lamented about the increasing number of live in relationships in India. He said he was not "getting anyone" while some of his friends had moved in with their girlfriends. My colleague was victorious in the newly liberalized Indian economy where a man who is good at his job could amass wealth. But he was a failure in the increasingly liberalized sexual system where you had to be handsome and charming. India is still a conservative country where men seek out females through arranged marriage (usually arranged by parents). But the number of "love marriages" and "live in relationships" are on the rise and this is making a lot of people very uncomfortable. Once upon a time, the ugliest of Indian males was guaranteed a mate through arranged marriage. But increasingly (as Indian society gets more liberalized and women gain more rights) this old guarantee of a partner is not sacrosanct anymore. I expect a few Indian imitators of Houellebecq in the years to come or maybe even worse, imitators of the characters in this novel.
Julian Barnes said that Houellebecq was a big game hunter. He is right. Whatever is a Tsar Bomba that might fall into the hands of the wrong people. But some of us out here are really bored with our lives. And we need dangerous novels like Whatever to "tickle out cement souls back into life"as Bukowski said.