scholarly journals Cartographie des malaises français Soumission et Sérotonine de Michel Houellebecq

2021 ◽  
pp. 6-20
Author(s):  
Clément Lemaître
Keyword(s):  
French Society ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Social Experiments ◽  
Michel Houellebecq

The critique of liberalism and its impact on all facets of life is a topic that structures Michel Houellebecq’snovels. His last two novels, Submissionand Serotonin, point out the dislocation of society into many parts that no longer communicate because they hold different values and occasionally end up clashing. Writing a work of fiction, like the Naturalist novelists, is a way to conduct political and social experiments toproduce an analysis of the contemporary world. This analysis is created by a singular voice that imposes its temperament, its obsessions,and its convictions on this representation of reality. This paperwill try to expose the character of this voice and the tensions it describes in French society.

scholarly journals Converted by un confit de canard: Political Thinking in the Novel Soumission by Michel Houellebecq

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-599
Author(s):  
Marie Demker
Keyword(s):  
German Society ◽  
George Orwell ◽  
The Novel ◽  
State Monitoring ◽  
French Society ◽  
Political Literature ◽  
Michel Houellebecq ◽  
Socialist Utopia ◽  
Tabloid Press ◽  
The Church

From a certain perspective, literature is always political. Literature in a broad sense has been a source of uprisings and protest at least since Martin Luther nailed his theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg in 1517 – and probably much further back in history than that. Narratives are the most potent way to articulate both political praise and criticism within a given society. In his political satires, British author George Orwell reviled all kinds of totalitarianism and the idea of a socialist utopia. Swedish writer and journalist Stieg Larsson wrote explicitly dystopian crime stories targeting the Swedish welfare state. German novelist Heinrich Böll turned a critical eye on the development of the tabloid press and the use of state monitoring in German society. In the same tradition, Michel Houellebecq has been seen as a very provocative writer in his tone and in his use of political tools. He has articulated a nearly individual anarchist perspective combined with authoritarian and paternalistic views. In Soumission, Houellebecq uses the European idea of multiculturalism to explode our political frames from within. This article explores the perception of religion in Soumission, assesses the critique Houellebecq directs towards French society and European developments, and examines Houellebecq’s perception of democracy and politics. The following questions are addressed: does Houellebecq’s critique come from a classical ideological perspective? Does he describe any elements of an ideal society – even if only as the reverse of a presented dystopia? What kind of democracy does the text of Soumission support or oppose?

scholarly journals Beigbeder et l’immoralité de la société contemporaine

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Snezana Petrova
Keyword(s):  
Political Discussion ◽  
Human Being ◽  
French Society ◽  
Narrative Technique ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
French Writer ◽  
The Future

<p>Frédéric Beigbeder, French writer, takes a sarcastic and uncomfortable look at the future of the immediately contemporary world. His narrative technique, his bold, provocative and innovative style, the figure of his protagonist who looks much more like an antihero, create a literature voluntarily disengaged from explicit political discussion, to the benefit of the intimate and the anecdotal, where contemporary French society is carefully scrutinized. Our study therefore consists of an analysis of Beigbeder’s works with the purpose of bringing out their civilizational and societal notions and exposing the ambiguity of the society of our time and its oppression of the human being, described in all its truth, with its baseness, malaise, and solitary but deeply greedy and absurd nature.</p>

Design, power and colonisation: decolonial and anti-oppressive explorations on three approaches for Design for Sustainability

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas B. TORRETTA ◽  
Lizette REITSMA
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Design For Sustainability ◽  
The People ◽  
Reflexive Practice ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Design Power ◽  
Relational Issue

Our contemporary world is organized in a modern/colonial structure. As people, professions and practices engage in cross-country Design for Sustainability (DfS), projects have the potential of sustaining or changing modern/colonial power structures. In such project relations, good intentions in working for sustainability do not directly result in liberation from modern/colonial power structures. In this paper we introduce three approaches in DfS that deal with power relations. Using a Freirean (1970) decolonial perspective, we analyse these approaches to see how they can inform DfS towards being decolonial and anti-oppressive. We conclude that steering DfS to become decolonial or colonizing is a relational issue based on the interplay between the designers’ position in the modern/colonial structure, the design approach chosen, the place and the people involved in DfS. Hence, a continuous critical reflexive practice is needed in order to prevent DfS from becoming yet another colonial tool.

R. K. Singh: The Poet Who Celebrates 'senses' to attain 'Nirvana'

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-154
Author(s):  
Ram Thakur
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Inside Out

This paper discusses a few of R.K.Singh’s characteristic poetic traits that make him stand apart from all his contemporary Indian poets writing in English. His poetry is an honest attempt to portray the contemporary world in its true hue and color; present an inside-out delineation of the modern man; and touch upon all the so-called ‘untouchable’ i.e., topics such as ‘Sex’, ‘Prostitution’, ‘Cultural Degradation’, ‘Stinking Politics’, ‘Religion’, etc. Reader finds Singh celebrating all his senses in his ‘unique’ attempt to attain the state of complete ‘Peace’ or ‘Calm’. His poetry serves as a medium for him to reach the state of ‘nirvana’. Reader finds Singh’s poetry as a prism that diffracts the worldly affairs into different spectrums, analyses each, and again sums it all into a single hue of liberation and peace with ‘detachment’ displaying the mark of a seasoned ‘yogi’. The paper aims to encourage other researchers and people in the academia to explore recent band of emerging Indian poets expressing themselves in English.

Confucianism as a World Religion

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Sun
Keyword(s):  
Vital Signs ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
World Religion ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
Thoughtful Reflection

Is Confucianism a religion? If so, why do most Chinese think it isn't? This book traces the birth and growth of the idea of Confucianism as a world religion. The book begins at Oxford, in the late nineteenth century, when Friedrich Max Müller and James Legge classified Confucianism as a world religion in the new discourse of “world religions” and the emerging discipline of comparative religion. The book shows how that decisive moment continues to influence the understanding of Confucianism in the contemporary world, not only in the West but also in China, where the politics of Confucianism has become important to the present regime in a time of transition. Contested histories of Confucianism are vital signs of social and political change. The book also examines the revival of Confucianism in contemporary China and the social significance of the ritual practice of Confucian temples. While the Chinese government turns to Confucianism to justify its political agenda, Confucian activists have started a movement to turn Confucianism into a religion. Confucianism as a world religion might have begun as a scholarly construction, but are we witnessing its transformation into a social and political reality? With historical analysis, extensive research, and thoughtful reflection, this book will engage all those interested in religion and global politics at the beginning of the Chinese century.

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