Günümüz edebiyatında insanın çöküşü: Michel Houellebecq'in Soumission örneği

Michel Houellebecq is one of the most important representatives of contemporary French literature. The originality of his works lies in the fact that he pushes the limits in order to break the taboos of the subjects he deals with. Immediately after the end of the Cold War, as the Western world proclaimed its ultimate victory, Houellebecq, on the contrary, claimed a place in the literary world by explaining that the West was decomposing from within. He claims that the enlightened classical individual of the West has lost his function and is facing endless internal distress. Unlike representatives of modern literature, he does not propose solutions to human problems, but approaches history in a circular perspective. According to him, every civilization is born, grows up and dies like a living organism. For this reason, he often mentions the Enlightenment philosophers in his works and thinks that it is unjustifiable to approach history with a progressive perspective. In this context, Submission can be considered as the emblematic work of the author's worldview. Houellebecq, in his novel, recounts the subconscious fears of the West and provokes controversy in society. The protagonist of the novel, François, is a conformist but he has a monotonous life. The Islamists, organized under the roof of a political party, come to power thanks to the cooperation of the Social Democrats with them to prevent the National Front. This political change, a first in the history of France, involves many social transformations. Islam, which has a very detailed doctrine of the regulation of public space, threatens European culture on a large scale and offers many opportunities at the individual level. The most attractive of them is polygamy. Polygamy is very seductive for François, who leads an unhappy and lonely life. This religion, which he will accept without giving up his comfort, deserves to be tried by François. These developments, which seem dystopic on the social level, evoke a utopia by the point of view and the narration of François. In this context, the phenomenon of submission in the novel has dual meaning. This novel is one of the most remarkable examples of contemporary postmodern literature. In this respect, it is necessary to define postmodernism and to review its history. Finally, the main topics covered in the novel will be presented to the reader in three parts. In the first part, we will examine the relationship between modernism and postmodernism through a more theoretical framework. We will try to show the effects of postmodernism on the world of thought and contemporary literature by considering the continuities and the breaks of this relation. This part of our study will be useful for the following chapters to make our analysis on Houellebecq and its work more comprehensible. The emergence and formation of postmodernism from the past to the present will shed light on our subject. We will begin the second part of our thesis with an introduction to Soumission, then briefly discuss the decisive moments of his life in order to understand the factors that constitute the literary personality of Michel Houellebecq. We will then discuss our topic of study in several subparts to provide a detailed analysis of Submission. In a sense, we are going to do an autopsy of Submission in the context of literary theory. We will highlight the characters of the novel and the concepts they express in order of importance, then we will carry out an analysis of the relationship Houellebecq-Huysmans by a study of intertextuality. We will thus move on to the third main part by expressing the depth of the theme of decadence in literature. In the third and final part of our study, we will approach the themes of Submission in a more sociological and political perspective. While presenting the problems of today's western world, we will illustrate what Islam can offer in this chaotic environment. We will show that Submission, which at first glance resembles a dystopian novel, represents an opportunism and is a utopia for the average European man. In this regard, we will examine in detail the double meaning of the book.