Comments on: On Roth, Houellebecq, and Hedonism http://conversationalreading.com/on-roth-houellebecq-and-hedonism/ Since 2004. The blog of the critic, writer, and editor, Scott Esposito Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:34:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Anti-Matter: Michel Houellebecq and Depressive Realism | Conversational Reading http://conversationalreading.com/on-roth-houellebecq-and-hedonism/#comment-14231 Anti-Matter: Michel Houellebecq and Depressive Realism | Conversational Reading Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:30:55 +0000 http://conversationalreading.com/?p=7183#comment-14231 [...] book actually grew out of an essay Ben wrote for The Point, an essay that I wrote about on this blog a little while back. And it was that blog post that led me and Ben to begin [...] [...] book actually grew out of an essay Ben wrote for The Point, an essay that I wrote about on this blog a little while back. And it was that blog post that led me and Ben to begin [...]

]]> By: Scott Esposito http://conversationalreading.com/on-roth-houellebecq-and-hedonism/#comment-4272 Scott Esposito Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:26:39 +0000 http://conversationalreading.com/?p=7183#comment-4272 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-4271 MattJ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:23:58 +0000 http://conversationalreading.com/?p=7183#comment-4271 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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