New Essay on Michel Houellebecq in Front Porch Republic
meverel.substack.com
I have a new essay in Front Porch Republic occasioned by Michel Houellebecq’s Interventions: 2020, a collection of his previously published articles and interviews: [T]he thoughts provoked by the essays strike me as simple, brutal, and convincing: The developed world fetishizes individual autonomy. This fetish relies on and reinforces a world-structure that one can only call mechanical. The hardening of this structure prevents escape, as does its spread to every inch of the earth. A vicious cycle swells both the separation between people and the mechanization of society, as two limbs of a poisonous tree. Loyalty, conceived as domination, decreases. Disloyalty, conceived as freedom, increases. This manipulable world comes to seem loveless, even hostile. Usefulness engenders meaninglessness.
New Essay on Michel Houellebecq in Front Porch Republic
New Essay on Michel Houellebecq in Front…
New Essay on Michel Houellebecq in Front Porch Republic
I have a new essay in Front Porch Republic occasioned by Michel Houellebecq’s Interventions: 2020, a collection of his previously published articles and interviews: [T]he thoughts provoked by the essays strike me as simple, brutal, and convincing: The developed world fetishizes individual autonomy. This fetish relies on and reinforces a world-structure that one can only call mechanical. The hardening of this structure prevents escape, as does its spread to every inch of the earth. A vicious cycle swells both the separation between people and the mechanization of society, as two limbs of a poisonous tree. Loyalty, conceived as domination, decreases. Disloyalty, conceived as freedom, increases. This manipulable world comes to seem loveless, even hostile. Usefulness engenders meaninglessness.