Michel Houellebecq : le pathétique en lisière

Although it sometimes seems banished from his novels, pathos constitutes a central theme and a crucial question in Houellebecq’s work. Through this essential ambiguity, pathos is a central tool in the novelist’s strategy : the paradoxical use he makes of it allows him to efficiently disrupt the moral value system. It also enables him to assemble a community of readers and, by means of his novels, restore the vanishing links between humans.