Thursday, May 8, 2008

Will Houellebecq Buy His Mum Flowers for Mother's Day?

What's not to love about French intellectuals? So full of contradictions--but what gifted minds aren't? Enter Michel Houellebecq. I have not read any of his novels, though a coworker of mine lent (unwittingly gave) me a copy of The Possibility of an Island. He is the reigning heavy weight champ among French literati and, as such, he is not without enemies. In a newly published memoir, the 83-year-old French writer Lucie Ceccaldi says of Houellebecq's work, "What's this moronic literature?! Houellebecq is someone who's never done anything, who's never really desired anything, who never wanted to look at others. And that arrogance of taking yourself as superior ... Stupid little bastard. Yes, Houellebecq's a stupid little bastard..."

Who is Ceccaldi? Houellebecq's mom!!

Le jour de la mère heureuse!

1 comment:

Katie said...

After reading both those articles, I can only say that those two seem to deserve each other. I need to read the Guardian more often. It cracked me up that the last section of the story is a Freudian psychoanalysis of Houellebecq and his ma!