Comments on: On Roth, Houellebecq, and Hedonism http://conversationalreading.com/on-roth-houellebecq-and-hedonism Reviews, interviews, news, and lots of opinion on world literature Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:22:43 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Scott Esposito http://conversationalreading.com/on-roth-houellebecq-and-hedonism/comment-page-1#comment-8540 Scott Esposito Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:26:39 +0000 http://conversationalreading.com/?p=7183#comment-8540 Matt, Definitely read the essay . . . you'll find a lot along the lines of what you've so ably put up here. Matt,

Definitely read the essay . . . you’ll find a lot along the lines of what you’ve so ably put up here.

]]> By: MattJ http://conversationalreading.com/on-roth-houellebecq-and-hedonism/comment-page-1#comment-8536 MattJ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:23:58 +0000 http://conversationalreading.com/?p=7183#comment-8536 Scott - Houellebecq's aims in my opinion have always been to show how not only hedonism but materialism, sexism, and ageism (especially youth-worship) have supplanted faith and religion very quickly in the last couple generations, almost without a thought for the consequences. And by writing in the first person he constantly forces people to argue with him instead of his ideas -- itself a way of disguising his purpose and inviting controversy about him, rather than the real social problems he pretends to celebrate. Scott – Houellebecq’s aims in my opinion have always been to show how not only hedonism but materialism, sexism, and ageism (especially youth-worship) have supplanted faith and religion very quickly in the last couple generations, almost without a thought for the consequences. And by writing in the first person he constantly forces people to argue with him instead of his ideas — itself a way of disguising his purpose and inviting controversy about him, rather than the real social problems he pretends to celebrate.

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