Michel Houellebecq - Extensão do Dominio da Luta

“In a perfectly liberal economic system, some accumulate considerable fortunes; others languish in unemployment and misery. In a perfectly liberal sexual system, some have a varied and exciting erotic life; others are reduced to masturbation and solitude. Economic liberalism is the extension of the field of struggle, its extension to all ages of life and all classes of society. In the same way, sexual liberalism is the extension of the field of struggle, its extension to all ages of life and all classes of society.”

Houellebecq's first novel follows the disillusioned odyssey of a middle-aged computer scientist, whose role is that of an observer of human movements and the banalities uttered around coffee machines. The installation of software within the country gives him the opportunity to extend the scope of his observations while he elaborates a complete theory on liberalism, be it economic or sexual.

It is a whole world of despair and emptiness that unfolds the moment this novel of the failed and abandoned begins, those who have elevated routine to a way of life, renunciation to a principle, defeatism to a value. The author could stop there. But he goes much further in his clinical, raw, and disenchanted portrayal of modern life, in such a way that, paradoxically, he challenges us and restores our courage to continue the fight.