The death of God in the West was the prelude to a formidable
metaphysical soap opera that continues to this day. Christianity's
masterstroke was to combine a fierce belief in the individual with the
promise of eternal participation in the Absolute. When that dream
evaporated, various attempts were made to offer the individual a minimum
of being. The latest of these attempts is advertising, which seeks to
arouse desire and transform the subject into a docile phantom doomed to
follow advertising's every whim. But, like all previous attempts, this
skin-deep, superficial participation in the world fails, and unhappiness
and depression continue to spread.
However, we can all produce a cold revolution in ourselves by stepping
outside the flow of information and advertising. We need to take some
time out, unplug the television, turn off our iPhones, stop buying
stuff, stop wanting to buy stuff, temporarily detach ourselves and adopt
an aesthetic attitude to the world. We just need to stay still for a few
seconds.
This is one of the key themes developed by Michel Houellebecq in this
collection of his texts and interviews from the last three decades. Here
he explains and elaborates his point of view, discusses his novels and
addresses a wide range of topics from politics, religion and literature
to suicide, euthanasia and paedophilia. An indispensable book for anyone
interested in the work of one of the most widely read and controversial
novelists of our time.
