Michel Houellebecq Halts Book Promotion Following Paris Attacks
Houellebecq, as well as his new book Submission, were featured on the cover of the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo. The book does not yet have a U.S. release date.
1. Author Michel Houellebecq, whose writing has won him both numerous accolades and numerous critics, was featured on the cover of the last issue of Charlie Hebdo before this week’s attacks.
“The predictions of the Great Houellebecq: ‘In 2015, I will lose my teeth… In 2022, I will celebrate Ramadan!’” the translation reads.
2. The Guardian is now reporting that Houellebecq has ceased promoting Submission in light of the attacks.
Houellebecq, a friend of economist Bernard Maris, who was among the 12 people shot dead on Wednesday, was ‘deeply affected’ and had decided to leave Paris for an unspecified rural retreat, his agent said on Thursday.
3. Submission (Soumission, in French) is currently a number one best-seller on Amazon.fr.
The book, which Houellebecq described as “political fiction” in the Paris Review, imagines France electing a Muslim president in 2022, sparking Islamic reform throughout the country.
4. Submission will be published in English in September, but does not yet have a release date in the U.S.
When reached for comment, Jeff Seroy, senior vice president of marketing and publicity at Farrar, Straus and Giroux (the U.S. publisher of Submission) told BuzzFeed:
“[Michel Houellebecq] is an important writer and we’re delighted to be his American publisher. Our arrangement to publish is quite recent so with no translation yet commissioned, we wouldn’t even tentatively schedule publication.”
