It Turns Out He Has a Heart

FOR TOO LONG, the edgelords have claimed Michel Houellebecq. Right-wingers take delight in the French author’s reputation as a provocateur, including his central role in lawsuits for calling Islam “the stupidest religion” and for partaking in a sex tape with young artists. The misogyny peaked in his 1994 debut novel Whatever (when I went looking for a stream of its film adaptation, I could only find one on an incel forum, where men in the comments groaned about the lack of rape scenes). His Islamophobia reached its pinnacle in 2001’s Platform, whose depictions of a terrorist attack somewhat prophesied the bombings in Bali a year later. Last October, New York’s hipsters-turned-MAGA (including talentless hacks like Peter Vack and Coldhealing) got together and called themselves Houellebecqian e-boys. With Annihilation (tr. Shaun Whiteside, 2024), the 69-year-old’s alleged final book, Houellebecq has once again shown that he has far too much compassion to be conflated with such a soulless scene.