Fuck Autonomy

Neo-Orientalism and Abjection in Michel Houellebecq’s Soumission

Bibliographic Data

ID12417818
AuthorsPer Erik Nilsson (0000-0002-1555-8133, Uppsala University, corresponding author), Per-Erik Nilsson
Year2019
Volume27
Issue4
Pages600-614
Publication date2019-07-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1062-7987 • E-ISSN: 1474-0575
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1062798719000206
OpenAlexW2958603173
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

In this paper, the author critically analyses Michel Houellebecq’s novel Soumission (Flammarion, 2017). The analysis uses post-structural theories of discourse, gender, and post-colonialism. The author argues that the novel employs neo-orientalist modes of identification where abjection is a fundamental theme. A neo-orientalist mode of identification refers to how knowledge about Muslims as an abject other is produced through various discursive techniques of differentiation, and how this performative practice is articulated through contingent conceptions of race, religion, and gender. Abjection refers to a symbolic castration, namely the central theme of how Western masculinity and European civilization has been de-masculinized by social democracy, liberalism, globalization, and feminism. Finally, the analysis of the novel is contrasted and compared with Houellebecq’s earlier writings

Aesthetics · Art · Autonomy · Feminism · Liberalism · Literature · Masculinity · Michel foucault · Orientalism · Performative utterance · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Theme (computing · French Literature and Critical Theory · French Literature and Criticism · Gender Studies · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access