 First edition cover | |
| Author | Michel Houellebecq |
|---|---|
| Original title | Soumission |
| Translator | Lorin Stein |
| Language | French |
| Publisher | Flammarion (France) |
Publication date | 7 January 2015 |
| Publication place | France |
Published in English | 10 September 2015 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 320 |
| ISBN | 978-2-08-135480-7 |
Submission (French:Soumission) is a novel by French writerMichel Houellebecq.[1] The French edition of the book was published on 7 January 2015 byFlammarion, withGerman (Unterwerfung) andItalian (Sottomissione) translations also published in January.[2][3] The book instantly became abestseller inFrance,Germany andItaly.[4][5] The English edition of the book, translated byLorin Stein, was published on 10 September 2015.[6]
The novel imagines a situation in which aMuslim party upholdingIslamist andpatriarchal values is able to win the2022 presidential election in France with the support of theSocialist Party. The book drew an unusual amount of attention because, by coincidence, it was released on the day of theCharlie Hebdo shooting.[7]
The novel mixes fiction with real people:Marine Le Pen,François Hollande,François Bayrou,Manuel Valls, andJean-François Copé, among others, fleetingly appear as characters in the book.[8]
The novel's narrator is François, a middle-aged literature professor atParis 3 and specialist inHuysmans. In 2022 François feels he is at the end of his sentimental and sexual life – composed largely of year-long liaisons with his students. It has been years since he did any valuable university work. France is in the grip ofpolitical crisis – in order to stave off aNational Front victory, theSocialists ally with the newly formed Muslim Brotherhood Party, with additional support from theUnion for a Popular Movement, formerly the main right-wing party. They propose the charming Islamic candidate Mohammed Ben-Abbes for the presidency against the National Front leaderMarine Le Pen. In despair at the emerging political situation, and the inevitability ofantisemitism becoming a major force in French politics, the parents of François's young and attractiveJewish girlfriend, Myriam, emigrate toIsrael, taking her along with them. His mother and father die. He fears that he is heading towards suicide, and takes refuge at anabbey situated in the town ofLigugé; it is also where his literary hero,Huysmans, became a lay member.
Ben-Abbes wins the election, and becomesPresident of France. He pacifies the country and enacts sweeping changes to French laws,privatizing theSorbonne, thereby making François redundant with full pension as only Muslims are now allowed to teach there. He also endsgender equality, allowingpolygamy. Several of François's intellectually-inferior colleagues, having converted to Islam, get good jobs and makearranged marriages with attractive young wives. The new president campaigns toenlarge the European Union to includeNorth Africa, the MuslimLevant andTurkey, with the aim of making it a newRoman Empire with the now-Islamicized France at its lead. In this new, different society, with the support of the powerful politician Robert Rediger, the novel ends with François poised to convert to Islam and the prospect of a second, better life, with a prestigious job, and wives chosen for him.
The book generated controversy and criticism from the left for its portrayal of Islam.[9] In advance of the novel's publication, French Prime MinisterManuel Valls declared, "France is not Michel Houellebecq . . . it's not intolerance, hatred, fear."[10] Lydia Kiesling, writing forSlate, stated, "There is a way in whichSubmission is not, strictly speaking, Islamophobic. But it doesAylan Kurdi no favors."[11]The New York Times likewise arguedSubmission "plays on French fears of terrorism, immigration and changing demographics."[12]
Houellebecq commented on the novel in an interview withThe Paris Review:
… I can't say that the book is a provocation — if that means saying things I consider fundamentally untrue just to get on people's nerves. I condense an evolution that is, in my opinion, realistic.[1]
Rob Doyle ofThe Irish Times found the themes of the book favourable to Islam, stating Houellebecq "suggests that yielding to the rule of Islam, with its reassuring social and sexual hierarchies, might be a good option for an otherwise terminal Europe."[10]Steven Poole, writing forThe Guardian, noted that the book was "arguably, not primarily about politics at all. The real target of Houellebecq's satire — as in his previous novels — is the predictably manipulable venality and lustfulness of the modern metropolitan man, intellectual or otherwise."[13] Adam Shatz, writing for theLondon Review of Books, states that it "is the work of anihilist not a hater – the jeu d’esprit of a man without convictions".[14]
Some critics also suggested the novel promotedmisogynistic views. Erik Martiny's review inThe London Magazine highlighted that "gender hierarchy is presented in the novel as the essential backbone to a healthy, stable society."[15] Heller McAlpin's review for theNPR concluded with the line, "I'm hoping that women, at least, won't take this insulting scenario lying down," while Lydia Kiesling contextualized the book's depiction of women by statingSubmission contains an "Evo-Psych 101 correlation of women's worth with their sexual viability" prevalent in both Houellebecq's work and his personal comments.[16][11]
On 5 January 2015, French presidentFrançois Hollande announced in an interview forFrance Inter radio that he "would read the book, because it's sparking a debate."[17]
The author appeared in a caricature on the front page of the satirical magazineCharlie Hebdo on 7 January 2015, the day when the offices of the newspaper wereattacked by masked gunmen who killed eightCharlie Hebdo employees. The title on the cover was:"Les prédictions du mage Houellebecq : en 2015, je perds mes dents, en 2022, je fais ramadan." (English:"The predictions of the sorcerer Houellebecq: In 2015, I lose my teeth. In 2022, I observeRamadan.")[18]
On the day of the publishing of the book and hours before the attack onCharlie Hebdo, Houellebecq said in an interview forFrance Inter radio:
There's a real disdain in this country for all the authorities. ... You can feel that this can't continue. Something has to change. I don't know what, but something.[19]
The Italian language translation (Sottomissione) by Vincenzo Vega was published on 15 January 2015 byBompiani.TheGerman translation (Unterwerfung) by Norma Cassau and Bernd Wilczek was published on 16 January 2015 byDuMont Buchverlag.[20]Lorin Stein translated the book into English. The Spanish language translation (Sumisión) by Joan Riambau was published 29 April 2015 byAnagrama.
The book was an instant bestseller.[4][21] More than 120,000 books were sold in the weeks following publication.[22] One month later, 345,000 copies had been sold in France alone, and the book was a best seller in Italy and Germany.[23]
Several critics, includingBruno de Cessole ofValeurs actuelles and Jérôme Dupuis ofL'Express, compared the novel toJean Raspail's 1973 novelThe Camp of the Saints, a novel about the political impotence of Europe during a massive wave of immigration from India.[24][25] Grégoire Leménager ofL'Obs downplayed the similarities toThe Camp of the Saints, asSubmission does not deal with ethnicity, and instead placed Houellebecq's novel within a trend of recent French novels about immigration and Islam, together withLa Mémoire de Clara byPatrick Besson,Dawa byJulien Suaudeau andLes Événements byJean Rolin, speculating that the concept of the "Great Replacement" ("Grand Remplacement"), as formulated byRenaud Camus, was becoming fashionable as a literary device.[26] The book has also been seen as inspired byBat Ye'or'sEurabia thesis.[27][28]
Marine Le Pen commented in an interview withFrance Info Radio that the novel is "a fiction that could one day become reality."[19]
Mark Lilla, inThe New York Review of Books, stated similarly that "Europe in 2022 has to find another way to escape the present, and 'Islam' just happens to be the name of the next clone."[29]
French novelistEmmanuel Carrère comparedSubmission toGeorge Orwell's1984.[30]
Jean Birnbaum inLe Monde des Livres judges Houellebecq as «neither a fringy or someone we can ignore» and, «from this statement, the fact that his story has a poor literary style» doesn't mean that the book has to be thrown in a bin. He says further «Houellebecq wants to mean something» (...) «which tells very much (...) about this terrifying epoch, when we are forced to choose between Islamic killers and fear of Islam.»[31]
French philosopher, Gaspar Koenig argues that Islam is a secondary topic in the story, the first topic being Joris-Karl Huysmans. However, he stresses the writer's talent for foresight, making a common point between Mohammed Ben Abbas's election in the book and Emmanuel Macron's election in 2017: the two being young, liberal, leading a new political party, and winning the election againstNational Rally thanks to the decisive support of François Bayrou. Koenig concludes with a vision of a post-national era, where European construction is used as a means to dissolveNation-states within a superstructure similar to the Roman Empire.
A monologue stage performance withEdgar Selge as François toured Germany in early 2016 with dates inHamburg,Dresden andBerlin. According toDie Zeit, interest in the story was piqued by theNew Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany.[32] A German film adaptation, based both on the novel and the stage performance, was produced by the television channelRundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg asUnterwerfung. The film stars Selge who reprises his role from the stage version.[33] The film premiered on German public broadcaster ARD on 6 June 2018, followed by a roundtable,[34] which resulted in "a broad internet discussion," in calls for all German political talkshows to be suspended for one year,[35] and in an apology from ARD presenterSandra Maischberger.[36]
In 2020 Ivan Strenski, professor ofreligious studies at theUniversity of California in Riverside, published in theacademic journalTerrorism and Political Violence an extensive comparison of Houellebecq's novel with the non-fiction book and bestsellerThe Strange Death of Europe byDouglas Murray. Both authors would strongly emphasize the risk of a near end of traditional European culture.
Murray could not have imagined a better metaphor for a dying Europe than Houellebecq’s portrayal of France’s ‘general atmosphere of tacit and lazy acceptance’ of its Islamization.[37]
Submission" premieres on Wednesday, June 6, at 8.15 pm and is then available in the media library. Sandra Maischberger discusses the film in her subsequent talk show with the title: " The Islam debate: Where does the tolerance end?
The aim of the German Cultural Council is to "stimulate cultural policy discussion at all political levels and to advocate freedom of the arts, publications and information."
The ARD presenter Sandra Maischberger rejects the demand for a break for talk shows
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