Houellebecq’s denial of the materialist label, 23
Houellebecq’s relationship with Catholicism as a young man, 45
quantum physics, 23–26, 87
application to human biology, 15
Copenhagen Interpretation, 24, 26, 144 n. 3
Hilbert Space, 28–29
Uncertainty Principle, 26, 144 n. 3
Realism
and Flaubert, 22
and Lovecraft, 117
depressive realism, 5
issue of realism in Houellebecq’s novels, 6, 110, 112
literary, 143 n. 1
Retté, Adolphe, 101–2
Robespierre, 3, 14–16, 126
and atheism, 79. See also atheism
contrast with Houellebecq, 79
Cult of the Supreme Being, 78–79, 90, 146 n. 3
Romanticism, 139–40
Rousseau, 78
Rushdie, Salman, 123
Russell, Bertrand, 22
sacredness, 7, 104
postmodern sacred, 7
sacred and the profane, the 59, 63–64. See also Durkheim
sacred canopy, 15
Saint-Simon, Claude-Henri de, 16, 77–78, 95–97
critique of Christianity, 86–87
individualism and decline of Christianity, 88–89. See also Christianity
on metaphysics, 87
nouveau christianisme, 77, 86, 89
Schopenhauer
moral philosophy, 93, 146 n. 8
on suicide, 144 n. 7. See also suicide
and the Supreme Sister, 69
on writing and style, 8
science fiction, 146 n. 3
secularization theory, 32–33, 42–43, 140
Berger on, 32
Houellebecq’s novels as mise-en-scène of, 4, 15, 20
Spinoza 71, 78
Stalin, 76
Submission
Annelise, 126–27
Aurélie, 125
Bruno, 126–27
conversion: and Huysmans, 129–30, 132; and sexuality, 148 n. 11; meaning of François’ conversion to Islam, 140–41; Submission as conversion narrative, 129; to Catholicism, 129–30 (See also Catholicism); to Islam, 132, 135–37 (See also Islam)
Gopnik on, 123, 141
Hollande, remarks by, 123
Lilla on, 124
Muslim Brotherhood, 127–29, 131–32, 141; and education, 132; and liberalism, 129; and women, 127–28
Pegida, 123, 147 n. 2
polygamy, 136–38
Rediger, 134–37, 139, 141; conversion to Islam, 13 (See also Islam); on intelligent design, 136; on polygamy, 137; on the suicide of Europe, 135 (See also suicide)
Rocamadour, 67, 132, 135, 139
Ten Questions About Islam, 136, 139
Valls on, 147 n. 2
suicide
of Annabelle, 21, 38, 40, 45
of Annick, 21, 38–40
of Christiane, 37, 39
and clones, 42
of Daniel, 55
of Djerzinski, 39
and Elohimism, 64
of Europe, 135
François, 130
link with materialism, 42. See also materialism
of Martin, Jean-Pierre, 41–42
Schopenhauer on, 144 n. 7. See also Schopenhauer
utopia
failure of, 92, 95–97
materialist utopia, 100
posthuman utopia, 12, 27
repudiation of, 13
sexual utopia, 81–82, 97
socialist utopians, 77
utopian socialism, 14, 16
utopian socialists, 96
van Wesemael, Sabine, on, 28
Vienna Circle, 22
Voltaire, 136
Whatever
animal fictions, 106, 108
Bardot, Brigitte, 106, 108–10, 112
Buvet, 31, 43–44. See also Catholicism
Catholic priests, 43–45. See also Catholicism
“Dialogues Between a Dachshund and a Poodle,” 83
instances of materialist horror, 105–9. See also materialism
Lechardoy, 106, 108, 110
sexual pauperization, 9, 106, 110
Tisserand, 81, 106–8, 110, 112
Viard on, 2, 80
Wittgenstein, 22
Zemmour, Éric, 147 n. 2
Zola, 3, 5–6, 22
and Naturalism, 22. See also Naturalism