We discussed Hamish's choices on Thursday 8th February 2018 at…
The Gather Inn, 330 Kingsway, Brighton & Hove, BN3 4LW
The Gather Inn, 330 Kingsway, Brighton & Hove, BN3 4LW
Book: Submission (2015) by Michel Houellebecq
Submission leapt out at Hamish from the pages of his mother's Daily Telegraph.
Mais oui, exclaimed Monsieur W, c'est vrai. France’s greatest living novelist + HBG = cultural heaven.
'Submission' is set in France c2022. François is a misanthropic middle-aged academic who, despite a fairly successful career, has no friends and a fairly pointless, unfulfilling existence. Much of the book is taken up with the machinations of how a Muslim party gains power in France alongside regular sex scenes in which François generally fails to find satisfaction or meaning.
So what is it? A provocative dystopian novel which highlights the vacuum at the heart of academic and political life? A highly implausible Islamaphobic future vision where women are denied education and must stay at home? A chance to provoke those who value gender equality and who are repulsed by sexism and misogyny? A critique of Joris-Karl Huysmans?
Does Michel Houellebecq really hate women and Muslims? Or is he just a wind-up merchant?
'Submission' is set in France c2022. François is a misanthropic middle-aged academic who, despite a fairly successful career, has no friends and a fairly pointless, unfulfilling existence. Much of the book is taken up with the machinations of how a Muslim party gains power in France alongside regular sex scenes in which François generally fails to find satisfaction or meaning.
So what is it? A provocative dystopian novel which highlights the vacuum at the heart of academic and political life? A highly implausible Islamaphobic future vision where women are denied education and must stay at home? A chance to provoke those who value gender equality and who are repulsed by sexism and misogyny? A critique of Joris-Karl Huysmans?
Does Michel Houellebecq really hate women and Muslims? Or is he just a wind-up merchant?
Most of the HBG said un grand OUI to Michel....
Hamish 7.5
Roland 8
Tristan 8
Nigel 6
Keith 7
Nick 8
Robin 8
Roland 8
Tristan 8
Nigel 6
Keith 7
Nick 8
Robin 8
Music: Max Richter - Three Worlds: Music From Woolf Works (2017)
There was much desultory discussion about this choice although this was based on very little actual listening.
Nigel extolled the virtues of the magnificent "The Waves" which, because it was the final track on the album, no one else had listened to.
Listen now. And weep sinners....
Film: The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq (2014) dir by Guillaume Nicloux
In short, we loved it. All hail MH. This helped make sense of MH, and the book, and his misanthropic schtick
^ Separated at birth?
Endorse it
Music: The Fall - RIP Mark E Smith
Film: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) by Martin McDonagh
Music: St Vincent - Masseduction (2017)....
Book: Daniel Kahmenan Thinking Fast and Slow
Television: Howard’s End BBC TV 2016
Television: Spiral Season 6 - BBC4
Film: T2 Trainspotting - DVD
Podcast: The A to Z of David Bowie (Marc Riley and Rob Hughes)
Music: Semicircle (2018) by The Go! Team
Book: Sacred Country (1992) by Rose Tremain (City Reads book choice for 2018)
Television: The Square doc Netflix 2012
Dear Esther Live at Brighton Dome....
The River Ouse does not have waves.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf#Death
Max Richter don't know shit.
-(pedan)T(ic of Hove).
Is it possible Max was referencing VW's 1931 novel 'The Waves'?
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