Elementary particles (novel)

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Elementarteilchen (original title Les Particules élémentaires ) is the name of a 1998 novel by Michel Houellebecq . The work, which was controversially discussed because of its provocative theses, quickly developed into a cult book .

content

The two half-brothers Michel Djerzinski and Bruno Clément, born at the end of the 50s, are both sons of Janine [Jane], who spends her life on sex adventures and self-discovery, but is unable to develop an emotional relationship with her children. Both are raised separately by grandmothers. Bruno, who becomes a teacher, develops a lifelong obsession with sex, but is hardly lucky with the opposite sex. The depressed acting Michel, a well-known researcher in the field of molecular biology will, however, shows life rather little interest in sex and women. Michel spends the time covered by the novel taking a break from research, which brings him shaking heads from his colleagues. The fundamentally different half-brothers are only connected by the fate of being the lonely and unloved sons of an egoistic mother. Fate seems to take a turn when they both meet love for the first time at the age of 40. However, happiness is short-lived for both and ends tragically. Bruno meets the sex-obsessed Christiane, who falls in love with him. When she was paralyzed by coccyx necrosis , she committed suicide . Bruno goes mad over it and spends the rest of his life in a psychiatric clinic. Michel meets his childhood friend Annabelle again. Here too, happiness comes to a quick end when Annabelle falls ill with uterine cancer and also takes her own life. Michel loses all emotional attachment to life and now devotes himself entirely to research. He develops the theoretical foundations for a new genderless and immortal human race that is to replace the previous human race. This multiplies through cloning , has no more individuality and knows neither age nor death. But not Michel, who disappears without a trace, whereby the narrator assumes a suicide, but Hubczejak, who was only 27 when Michel's work appeared, brings the ideology behind cloning to the people. However, he is described as someone whose only accomplishment is this dissemination.

interpretation

In the novel, the narrator speaks of two great so-called metaphysical revolutions in human history. The first was the spread of Christianity . The second came with the fall of medieval scholasticism and the rise of the modern age , which put individual freedom at the center. For him, this so-called materialistic age is a phase of the decomposition of all metaphysical values, which has been greatly accelerated since the 1968 movement and the so-called sexual liberation. He sees the third metaphysical revolution in overcoming individual freedom, which for him is a source of suffering. This should be made possible by the vision of creating a new person with the help of biotechnology . Incidentally, in the novel, the author takes up the thesis already represented in the previous novel, Expansion of the Battle Zone , that with sexual liberation people now have to compete more intensely for sexual partners in addition to a capitalist struggle for livelihood . He also clearly criticizes the youth mania of today's western society.

In his book, Houellebecq deals with various scientific , artistic , religious and philosophical schools of thought, namely with the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics , biotechnology , Aldous Huxley's Brave New World , the positivism of Auguste Comte and the Vienna Circle and the New Age ( Esalen ), Viennese Actionism and Satanism .

review

The novel was sometimes referred to as "evil satire" and was accused of cynicism, sexism and coldness. Other reviews, however, described the work as "comforting".

Awards

Adaptations

Movie

In 2006 (in February in Germany, in August in France) the film adaptation of the same name by Oskar Roehler was released in cinemas. The film received the silver bear in Berlin for best actor ( Moritz Bleibtreu ).

radio play

theatre

literature

  • Carola Blod-Reigl: Mother's love, child and clone. On the connection between love, family and reproductive medicine in Fay Weldon and Michel Houellebecq. In: Andreas Kraß, Alexandra Tischel (ed.): Alliance and desire. Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2002. ISBN 3-503-06146-0 .
  • Betül Dilmac: The mixing of literary and scientific discourse with Michel Houellebecq. In: Thomas Klinkert, Monika Neuhofer (Ed.): Theory - Epistemology - Comparative Case Studies. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2008, pp. 301–320.
  • Heide Lutosch: end of the family - end of story. On the family novel by Thomas Mann, Gabriel Garcia Márquez and Michel Houellebecq. Aisthesis Verlag, Bielefeld 2007, ISBN 3-89528-624-9 .
  • Rita Schober: On the test bench. Zola - Houellebecq - Klemperer. edition travanía, Verlag Walter Frey, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-925867-72-4 .
  • Clemens Setz : Elementary particles. Michel Houellebecq gives consolation in a completely hopeless situation, in: Die Zeit No. 34, August 16, 2012, p. 49.
  • Thomas T. Tabbert: The birth of posthumanism from the spirit of the adventure society - artificial people in Michel Houellebecq's novel "Elementarteilchen". Artislife, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-00-014261-4 .
  • Björn Pötters: Michel Houellebecq's Elementary Particles - Text and Film. GRIN Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-640-11766-6 .
  • Jörn Steigerwald: (Post-) moralistic storytelling. Michel Houellebecq's Particules élémentaires. In: Lendemains, 138/139 (2010), pp. 191-208.

swell

  1. ↑ "Cult Books". By Rudolf Freiburg, Markus May, Roland Spiller. Retrieved January 25, 2010 .
  2. ↑ Clemens Setz: Elementary Particles | Michel Houellebecq gives consolation in a completely hopeless situation. In: ZEIT ONLINE . August 16, 2012, accessed August 20, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Simone Kaempf: The gene code is to blame for everything. Retrieved May 20, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Elementarteilchen Münchner Kammerspiele 2011 ( Memento from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Elementarteilchen Theater Freiburg 2012 ( Memento from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

Web links