Journal of European Studies

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Register here for Free Access to SAGE Cultural Studies Journals

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Michallat, W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Journal of European Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3, 313-331 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0047244107080727

Modern life is still rubbish Houellebecq and the refiguring of `reactionary' retro

Wendy Michallat

University of Sheffield, UK, w.michallat@sheffield

In 1998 Michel Houellebecq's novel Les Particules élémentaires provocatively sketched a causal link between the ills of modern-day society and the political legacy of May 1968. The author focused his critique primarily on the liberalization of sexual `mœurs', popularly seen as one of the few tangible achievements of May but denounced by Houellebecq as a pernicious determiner of social exclusion. The discourse used by Houellebecq to attack the legacy of `68 is not, however, altogether new; it finds expression in the popular media he both extols and denigrates in Les Particules élémentaires. Houellebecq uses comic-book art to evoke an idyllic faith in `pure', `universal' (pre-'68) values and the article traces a right-wing lineage for these `lost' moralities from children's comics of the 1960s back to the Vichy period. Highlighted also are similarities between Les Particules élémentaires and the anti-consumer culture ideology of the 1960s satirical magazine Hara-Kiri. The article pays particular attention to how both novel and magazine communicate disaffection through a nihilist discourse characterized by taboo-breaking caricature. Finally Houellebecq's depiction of the 1968 generation as dysfunctional and deluded can be seen in new social comment emerging in French cartoon art of the 1970s and 1980s.

Key Words: anti-semitism • bande dessinée • Claire Bretécher • François Cavanna • Hara-Kiri • Michel Houellebecq • misogyny • racism • Jean-Marc Reiser • Vichy


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?