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FLS,Volume XXXIV, 2007Queer Sexualities

Douglas Morrey

University of Warwick

Stop the World, or WhatÕs Queer about

Michel Houellebecq?

Michel Houellebecq is rightly known for the considerable energy thathe devotes to describing and analysing the sphere of heterosexual

activity. Despite this, his analysis of the moribund institutions of hetero- sexuality is of particular use to a queer critique that would seek to un-

derstand and challenge heteronormative systems. Although Houellebecqfrequently reinvests in traditional heterosexual and patriarchal power

structures through his romantic plots and his disingenuously Òpost- feministÓ sexism, a close reading of him alongside dissimilar feminist critics reveals a symptomatic message that a feminist and queer politicscannot afford to ignore. ________________________ To ask what is queer about Michel Houellebecq may at first glance seem like a counter-intuitive, not to say an absurd and even

offensive question. After all, few contemporary writers offer suchlengthy consideration ofheterosexualrelations, and few give so much

space to the explicit depiction of straight sex, much of which is clearly

modelled upon fantasy scenarios familiar from pornographic culture(Morrey). The few gay characters who appear in HouellebecqÕs fiction

tend to be pathetic alcoholics, such as Desplechin inLes Particules ŽlŽmentaires, or else the "lesbians" who occur inLanzaroteand Plateformealmost exclusively as figures of wish fulfilment in the pre- dictable male fantasy of sleeping with two women at the same time

(ClŽment 67, 107-10). Meanwhile, HouellebecqÕs only response to theAIDS crisis is to see it as a convenient excuse for certain individuals

178FLS, Vol. XXXIV, 2007

to withdraw entirely from sexual competition (Particules234), or else as a unique and overlooked opportunity to solve the worldÕs popula- tion problems (La Possibilité d'une île446). Houellebecq's frequent deployment of a quasi-biological discourse and appeal to arguments drawn from evolutionary theory and natural selection tends inevitably to naturalise heterosexual relations, a gesture reinforced by the rehearsal of such hackneyed opinions as the supposed ÒŽvidence gŽomŽtriqueÓ (La Possibilité d'une île110) of male-female genital copulation. If it is important therefore not to over-state HouellebecqÕs affinity with a queer culture or sensibility, I will nonetheless argue that his disillusioned dissection of the contemporary social organisa- tion of heterosexual relations, and in particular his compassion for those groups and individuals that are marginalised within the domi- nant sexual economy, is at the very least of use to a queer critique of heteronormativity, and may arguably be labelled ÒqueerÓ if we accept the broadest definition of Òan anti-normative positioning with regard to sexualityÓ (Jagose 98). What is perhaps even more surprising is that HouellebecqÕs criticism of this sexual arena, when it implies condem- nation of queer cultures or practices, stems less from an unthinking homophobia than from a reasoned analysis that bears some compari- son to radical- and lesbian-feminist critiques of the queer cultural economy. In short, then, this essay makes no attempt to argue that Houellebecq is queer, nor even really to reclaim his work as queer writing. Instead, it suggests that HouellebecqÕs analysis of the mori- bund institutions of heterosexuality is of particular use to a queer critique that would seek to understand and challenge heteronormative systems. Although Houellebecq frequently reinvests in traditional het- erosexual and patriarchal power structures through his romantic plots and his disingenuously Òpost-feministÓ sexism, this study will expose Ñ in the process of reading Houellebecq alongside such unlikely bed- fellows as the lesbian feminist critic Sheila Jeffreys and the queer heroine Valerie Solanas Ñ how his symptomatic message can be use- fully appropriated into the armoury of a queer sexual politics that would look to destabilise, and possibly dismantle, the straight mind and the bodies in which it is housed. Given his phenomenal success, not only in France but in transla- tion around the world, HouellebecqÕs morbid diagnosis of Western heteronormativity has already become quite familiar. His simple butquotesdbs_dbs13.pdfusesText_19

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