This progressive effacement of human relationships is not without certain problems for the novel. How, in point of fact, would one handle the narration of those unbridled passions, stretching over many years, and at times making their effect felt on several generations? Weโre a long way from Wuthering Heights, to say the least. The novel form is not conceived for depicting indifference or nothingness; a flatter, more terse, and dreary discourse would need to be invented.
Michel HouellebecqI'd say that the question whether love still exists plays the same role in my novels as the question of God's existence in Dostoevsky.
Michel HouellebecqThere is no point in asking me general questions because I am always changing my mind.
Michel HouellebecqWhy am I popular? I don't know. Is it a mistake? I should think it's a mistake somewhere.
Michel HouellebecqA source of permanent, accessible pleasure, our genitals exist. The god who created our misfortune, who made us short-lived, vain and cruel, has also provided this form of meagre compensation. If we couldn't have sex from time to time, what would life be? A futile struggle against joints that stiffen, caries that form. All of which, moreover, is as uninteresting as humanly possible - the collagen which makes muscles stiffen, the appearance of microbic cavities in the gums.
Michel Houellebecq