Free Republic

Michel Houellebecq is a sardonic and iconoclastic French novelist, winner of the prestigious Prix Goncourt, and subject of considerable controversy in Europe these days. He deserves to be controversial here in the United States as well. He calls his most recent novel a work of "political fiction." Titled "Soumission" (in English, "Submission," in Arabic, an accurate translation would be "Islam"), it is set in the near future, in France, "a Western civilization now ending before our very eyes." Coincidence No. 1: "Soumission" was published in France the same week jihadis attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo, slaughtering as many members...

One of the little-discussed details in the wake of the terrorist attack on the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo centers on a book featured on the front cover of its current edition. The book, which has reportedly caused controversy in the days leading up to its publication over perceived "Islamophobia," imagines the future election of a Muslim leader of France, which heralds a broader Islamization of the EU. Its title is "Soumission" or "Submission" in English ("submission" being the literal definition of the Arabic word "Islam"), the newest work of celebrated and controversial French author Michel Houellebecq. "Soumission"...

Michel Houellebecq, who first stirred controversy with sex novel Atomised, makes waves with book describing country after Islamist becomes president. Put France’s literary enfant terrible together with Europe’s most combustible political talking point, and sparks were always going to fly. Michel Houellebecq, whose tale of sex, mother-hatred and cloning Atomised was the French literary scandal of the Nineties, is turning his attention to “Islamisation”. His new novel Soumission (Submission), will not be published until January 7 but has already triggered a flurry of accusations that he is pandering to the growing Islamophobia gripping France. It is set in 2022 and...