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1980s |
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A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Anne Tyler
The Elementary Particles, Michel Houellebecq
Ham on Rye, Charles Bukowski
In The Spirit of Crazy Horse, Peter Matthiessen
The New York Trilogy, Paul Auster
“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”, Richard P. Feynman
Where I’m Calling From, Raymond Carver
The Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma, Bodhidharma |
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The Elementary Particles, Michel Houellebecq
Les Particules Élémentaires, Flammarion,
September 7, 1988 (France)
Alfred A. Knopf, 2000, (US), Translated by Frank Wynne
It is a tale of two siblings: two half-brothers (same mother, different fathers) who grow up in entirely different environments. It is a tale of science versus sexuality, nature versus nurture, and the inability of love to conquer the atomized forces in either world.
Michel’s life in science provides a molecular view at how the deconstruction of events in one’s life—the elementary particles from which all other particles are made—lead a human being from point A to point B. It is a cold tale seemingly void of the nuances of human emotion, except for the subliminal guiding force of the historical concept of true love. Meanwhile, true love takes a back seat (or more appropriately, lives in the back seat) in Bruno’s world, where the birth of free love in the late ’60s has caused a ripple in the typically stagnant ways of the universe, altering the concept and constraints of love.
Metaphysical mutations—that is to say radical, global transformations in the values to which the majority subscribe—are rare in the history of humanity.
Bruno rides the wave of the universe’s mutation straight into a black hole of obsession. For Bruno, there is “one source of warmth—between a woman’s thighs” and because of it, he dreams endlessly of “gaping vaginas.” Here, in the realm of all things physical, the course of one’s life can only be traced to the wounds inflicted by the trials and tribulations of animalistic, sexual desires. The resulting scars dictate the subsequent paths taken when life presents its many forks in the road.
The Elementary Particles is so dense with profound ideas that it can be a daunting task to try and narrow it down to just a few of the many that continue to resonate long after you put it down. Michel Houellebecq is a philosopher wearing the cloak of a novelist and he uses words as darts, aiming directly at your own cork board of convictions. More often than not, he manages to toss bullseyes, ultimately forcing you to re-evaluate your place in the world as well as the events that conspired to put you there.
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