Abstract
Futuristic fiction found its niche with Louis-Sébastien Mercier’s premonitory novel L’An 2440: Rêve s’il en fut jamais (1771). Since then, Paris—the City of Light—has been transformed through literary and filmic futuristic projections into a nightmarish city of dark. Dutton asks whether the secular ethics propounded via the French Revolution and its aftermath can accommodate positive utopian futures for France, looking at French speculative narratives from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She then examines Michel Houellebecq’s Soumission (2015), which re-imagines the future of France under fundamentalist Islamic rule. By considering the Islamic agenda of this recent novel in the context of historical secular ethics in French utopianism, Dutton discerns a new discourse on religion in futuristic fiction that could reorient writing on France’s future.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
In-text references of French quotes are from the 1999 publication of the 1771 edition: Mercier, L’An 2440; English quotes are from W. Hooper’s translation: Mercier, Memoirs.
- 2.
Alkon, Origins of Futuristic Fiction. See also: Ransom, “Alternate History.”
- 3.
In-text references of French quotes are from Houellebecq, Soumission; English quotes are from Lorin Stein’s translation: Houellebecq, Submission.
- 4.
Forsström, Possible Worlds.
- 5.
Forsström notes that this text is likely translated and adapted from a German novel by Johann Gottlob Benjamin Pfeil. Forsström, Possible Worlds, 33.
- 6.
Wilkie, “Mercier’s L’An 2440,” 16.
- 7.
Forsström, Possible Worlds, 43.
- 8.
Wilkie, “Mercier’s L’An 2440,” 16.
- 9.
Rufi, Le Rêve.
- 10.
Trousson, “Sciences et Religion en 2440.”
- 11.
Garrioch, Making of Revolutionary Paris, 1–14.
- 12.
In-text references are from Verne, Paris au XXe siècle.
- 13.
There has been some confusion as to the authorship of this anonymously published work, but the attribution to Léo Lespès (Timothée Trimm) (1815–1875) seems implausible given that an updated edition was published in 1908 of Les Ruines de Paris en 4908, and Lespès died in 1875. See: Jean de Palacio, Le Silence du texte, 235; Marie-France David de Palacio, Reviviscences romaines, 109n22. Léo Lespès wrote Les Ruines de Paris: Chronique du Paris brûlé (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1871), which adds to the confusion.
- 14.
Alternative or alternate history is a popular sub-genre of uchronia, as noted by Alkon, Origins of Futuristic Fiction, 115, and a list of “what if” works can be found at http://www.uchronia.net/
- 15.
Ludlow, “Sur la pierre blanche,” 623.
- 16.
Taylor, Secular Age.
- 17.
Gay, The Enlightenment. See, for example: Barnett, Enlightenment and Religion.
- 18.
French National Constituent Assembly, Declaration, preamble.
- 19.
Powers, Confronting Evil, 5.
- 20.
Beckford, “Laïcité,” 27–40.
- 21.
Jones, “Beneath the Veil.”
- 22.
See: “Déclaration universelle”; “Laïcité: les débats”; “De la Révolution Française.”
- 23.
Barras, “Sacred Laïcité.”
- 24.
Chemin, “Jean Baubérot.”
- 25.
Devichand, “How the World.”
- 26.
For example: Leménager, “Houellebecq.”
- 27.
In October 2015, Bannon mentioned the text in an interview, saying: “It’s been almost a Camp of the Saints type invasion into Central and then Western and Northern Europe”; later saying on a Breitbart podcast in January 2016: “The whole thing in Europe is all about immigration. It’s a global issue today—this kind of global Camp of the Saints”; and again in April 2016: “When we first started talking about this a year ago, we called it the Camp of the Saints … I mean, this is Camp of the Saints, isn’t it?” Quoted in Blumenthal and Rieger, “This Stunningly Racist.”
- 28.
After consideration by the Supreme Court, this travel ban is now enforceable against citizens of six Muslim-majority countries. McCarthy and Laughland, “Trump Travel Ban.”
- 29.
Albertini, “L’un des livres favoris.”
- 30.
Blumenthal and Rieger, “This Stunningly Racist.”
- 31.
Chrostek, Utopie; Giri, “En quête”; Wesemael, Michel Houellebecq; Sweeney, Michel Houellebecq; Morrey, Michel Houellebecq; Betty, Without God.
- 32.
Onfray, Miroir du nihilisme.
- 33.
Betty, Without God, 47.
- 34.
In an interesting attempt at categorising media reactions to Soumission according to French or English language reporting, Joseph Voignac suggests that while reactions to the novel in France focus on integration, insecurity and Islamophobia, the Anglophone press brings out the author’s “real” themes: the moral and sexual misery of a world without religion, and France’s place in the world. Voignac, “Michel Houellebecq.”
- 35.
Sénécal, “Michel Houellebecq.”
- 36.
Sénécal, “Michel Houellebecq.”
- 37.
Chrisafis, “Michel Houellebecq.”
- 38.
Novak-Lechevalier, “La religión.”
- 39.
Lorentzen, “Nobody.”
- 40.
Chaudey and Denis, “Michel Houellebecq”; Novak-Lechevalier, “La religión.”
- 41.
Baird, Studies in Pascal’s Ethics, 56–84.
- 42.
See also: Chaouat, “Houellebecq’s Wager.”
- 43.
Novak-Lechevalier posits that François does not necessarily convert, given this conditional tense. Novak-Lechevalier, “Soumission.”
- 44.
Sauvaget, “Macron.”
Works Cited
Albertini, Dominique. “L’un des livres favoris de Marine Le Pen décrit une apocalypse migratoire.” Libération. September 16, 2015. http://www.liberation.fr/france/2015/09/16/le-livre-de-chevet-de-marine-le-pen-decrit-une-apocalypse-migratoire_1383026.
Alkon, Paul K. Origins of Futuristic Fiction. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1987.
Baird, A. W. S. Studies in Pascal’s Ethics. The Hague: Springer, 1975.
Barnett, S. J. The Enlightenment and Religion: The Myths of Modernity. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003.
Barras, Amélie. “Sacred Laïcité and the Politics of Religious Resurgence in France: Whither Religious Pluralism?” Mediterranean Politics 18, no. 2 (2013): 276–293.
Beckford, James A. “Laïcité, ‘Dystopia’ and the Reaction to New Religious Movements in France,” in Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe, edited by James T. Richardson, 27–40. New York: Kluwer Academic Press, 2004.
Betty, Louis. Without God: Michel Houellebecq and Materialist Horror. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2016.
Blumenthal, Paul, and J. M. Rieger, “This Stunningly Racist French Novel Is How Steve Bannon Explains the World,” Huffpost, March 5, 2017, https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/steve-bannon-camp-of-the-saints-immigration_us_58b75206e4b0284854b3dc03
Chaouat, Bruno. “Houellebecq’s Wager.” Los Angeles Review of Books. May 26, 2015. http://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/houellebecqs-wager-by-bruno-chaouat/.
Chaudey, Marie, and Jean-Pierre Denis. “Michel Houellebecq: ‘Je ne suis plus athée’.” La Vie. January 27, 2015. http://www.lavie.fr/culture/livres/michel-houellebecq-je-ne-suis-plus-athee-27-01-2015-59984_30.php.
Chemin, Anne. “Jean Baubérot, grand penseur de la laïcité,” LeMonde.fr, December 8, 2017, http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2017/12/08/jean-bauberot-grand-penseur-de-la-laicite_5226435_3232.html.
Chrisafis, Angelique. “Michel Houellebecq—‘Am I Islamophobic? Probably, Yes’.” The Guardian. September 7, 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/06/michel-houellebecq-submission-am-i-islamophobic-probably-yes.
Chrostek, Katharina. Utopie und Dystopie bei Michel Houellebecq. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2011.
“De la Révolution Française à la loi de 1905: les débats du XIXe siècle”. Sénat. February 4, 2005. https://www.senat.fr/colloques/actes_laicite/actes_laicite2.html.
“Déclaration universelle sur la laïcité au XXIe siècle”. LeMonde.fr. December 9, 2005. http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article_interactif/2005/12/09/declaration-universelle-sur-la-laicite-au-xxie-siecle_718769_3232.html.
Devichand, Mukul. “How the World Was Changed by the Slogan ‘Je Suis Charlie’.” BBC Trending. January 3, 2016. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-35108339.
Forsström, Riikka. Possible Worlds: The Idea of Happiness in the Utopian Vision of Louis-Sébastien Mercier. Helsinki: Biblioteca Historica, 2002.
French National Constituent Assembly. Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789). http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/rightsof.asp.
Garrioch, David. The Making of Revolutionary Paris. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
Gay, Peter. The Enlightenment: An Interpretation. New York: Knopf, 1966–1969.
Giri, Hemlata. “En quête d’une société idéale: la dialectique de l’utopie et de la dystopie dans Travail d’Emile Zola et La Possibilité d’une île de Michel Houellebecq.” PhD diss., University of Delhi and Sorbonne Paris Cité, 2015.
Houellebecq, Michel. Soumission. Paris: Flammarion, 2015.
———. Submission. Translated by Lorin Stein. London: William Heinemann, 2015.
Jones, Nicky. “Beneath the Veil: Muslim Girls and Islamic Headscarves in Secular France.” Macquarie Law Journal 9 (2009): 47–69.
“Laïcité: les débats, 100 ans après la loi de 1905”. La documentation Française. December 9, 2005. http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/dossiers/d000095-laicite-les-debats-100-ans-apres-la-loi-de-1905.
Leménager, Grégoire. “Houellebecq, Besson, Rolin… ‘Le Grand Remplacement’, sujet de roman?” BibliObs. December 18, 2014. https://bibliobs.nouvelobs.com/actualites/20141218.OBS8319/houellebecq-besson-rolin-le-grand-remplacement-sujet-de-roman.html.
Lorentzen, Christian. “Nobody Will Make Us Do Yoga: A Conversation with Michel Houellebecq.” Vice. June 12, 2017. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qv43a7/michel-houellebecq-interview.
Ludlow, Gregory. “Sur la pierre blanche: Anatole France’s Vision of a European Federation.” History of European Ideas 16, no. 4–6 (1993): 619–625.
McCarthy, Tom, and Oliver Laughland. “Trump Travel Ban: Supreme Court Allows Enforcement as Appeals Proceed.” The Guardian. December 5, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/04/donald-trump-travel-ban-on-six-mostly-muslim-countries.
Mercier, Louis Sébastien. L’An 2440: Rêve s’il en fut jamais. Paris: La Découverte, 1999.
———. Memoirs of the Year Two Thousand Five Hundred. Translated by W. Hooper. Philadelphia: Thomas Hobson, 1795.
Morrey, Douglas. Michel Houellebecq: Humanity and Its Aftermath. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2013.
Novak-Lechevalier, Agathe. “La religión en las novelas de Houellebecq.” YouTube. June 12, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1DFEW09dvU.
———. “Soumission: la littérature comme résistance.” Libération. March 1, 2015. http://next.liberation.fr/culture/2015/03/01/soumission-la-litterature-comme-resistance_1212088.
Onfray, Michel. Miroir du nihilisme: Houellebecq éducateur. Paris: Éditions Galilée, 2017.
Palacio, Jean de. Le Silence du texte: poétique de la décadence. Leuven: Peeters, 2003.
Palacio, Marie-France David de. Reviviscences romaines: la latinité au miroir de l’esprit fin-de-siècle. Berne: Peter Lang, 2005.
Powers, Scott M. Confronting Evil: The Psychology of Secularization in Modern French Literature. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2016.
Ransom, Amy J. “Alternate History and Uchronia: Some Questions of Terminology and Genre.” Foundation 87 (2003): 58–72.
Rufi, Enrico. Le Rêve laïque de Louis-Sébastien Mercier entre littérature et politique. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1995.
Sauvaget, Bernadette. “Macron, un nouveau pacte avec les catholiques?” Libération. April 10, 2018. http://www.liberation.fr/france/2018/04/10/macron-un-nouveau-pacte-avec-les-catholiques_1642260.
Sénécal, Didier. “Michel Houellebecq.” L’Express. September 1, 2001. https://www.lexpress.fr/culture/livre/michel-houellebecq_804761.html.
Sweeney, Carole. Michel Houellebecq and the Literature of Despair. New York: Bloomsbury, 2013.
Taylor, Charles. A Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.
Trousson, Raymond. “Sciences et Religion en 2440.” Cahiers de l’Association internationale des études françaises, no. 58 (2006): 89–105.
Verne, Jules. Paris au XXe siècle. Paris: Hachette/Le Cherche-Midi Editeur, 1994.
Voignac, Joseph. “Michel Houellebecq: Le Monde Anglophone réagit à Soumission.” Revue des Deux Mondes. October 29, 2015. http://www.revuedesdeuxmondes.fr/michel-houellebecq-le-monde-anglophone-reagit-a-soumission/.
Wesemael, Sabine van. Michel Houellebecq. Le Plaisir du texte. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2005.
Wilkie, Everett C., Jr. “Mercier’s L’An 2440: Its Publishing History During the Author’s Lifetime.” Harvard Library Bulletin 32, no. 1 (1984): 5–35.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dutton, J. (2020). Rewriting France’s Future: From Louis-Sébastien Mercier’s Pre-Revolutionary Projections to Michel Houellebecq’s Islamic Agendas via Secular State Ethics. In: Kendal, Z., Smith, A., Champion, G., Milner, A. (eds) Ethical Futures and Global Science Fiction. Studies in Global Science Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27893-9_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27893-9_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-27892-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-27893-9
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)