This 2010 Goncourt Prize-winning novel tells the story of an artist, first a photographer then a painter, whose father is disillusioned and eventually decides to undergo euthanasia. All the characters are devoid of illusions. It is a world where disenchanted figures await death.
The author portrays himself in his novel, with Jed Martin creating his portrait. Thus, we see the writer speaking about himself in the third person! It’s a dark, somber universe, presenting a negative view of the world. Michel Houellebecq is even surrealistically murdered. The crime scene itself is a tableau. Despite being a recognized artist, the novel’s hero chooses to retreat to a secluded village in the Creuse.
In this book, the author describes a society in its most absurd traits. It seems that Michel Houellebecq is obsessed with death. All his protagonists see nothing but the twilight of their lives on the horizon. The future does not exist, there’s none, except for death.
The novel is dark and distressing. The Map and the Territory, where everything begins and ultimately Jed Martin ends his life in this village by returning to photography. Photos where the sun doesn’t appear, photos of dark, misty landscapes, much like the entire novel. He won the Goncourt Prize for this deeply portrayed atmosphere, the writing achieved to perfection.
Michel Houellebecq evokes Céline through the use of coarse, almost scatological terms. There is a resemblance in both the writing and the character. Daring to speak of oneself in the third person and especially to be killed off, only the greatest can do that. Houellebecq did it.
Thierry Jan
