ABSTRACT

Michel Houellebecq’s novel Submission imagines a future in which a Muslim party wins the 2022 election and begins to turn France into an Islamic country. This story initially led critics to accuse Houellebecq of reproducing a far-right narrative about Muslim immigration. More recently, however, other critics have argued that the novel does not denigrate Islam but depicts the new regime as a viable refuge from Western liberalism, leading to the accusation that Houellebecq glorifies patriarchal society. This article addresses both charges by arguing that Submission is not primarily concerned with Islam at all; rather, it is a satire of Western liberal democracy, which uses Islam as a satirical device to illustrate the shortcomings of Western conceptions of freedom and democracy. It is therefore no coincidence that Submission revolves around a farcical democratic election, and that the French people embraces their new illiberal system. Importantly, although the novel’s protagonist compares political Islam favorably with Western liberal democracy, there are numerous signs in the novel that Houellebecq does not champion the return of the patriarchy. Finally, drawing on political science, the article argues that Houellebecq’s satire correctly pinpoints some major problems with liberal democracy as it is presently exercised throughout the West.

摘要

Michel Houellebecq 的小说Submission设想了一个穆斯林政党赢得 2022 年大选并开始将法国变成伊斯兰国家的未来。这个故事最初导致批评者指责维勒贝克复制了关于穆斯林移民的极右翼叙述。然而，最近，其他评论家争辩说，这部小说并没有诋毁伊斯兰教，而是将新政权描绘成远离西方自由主义的可行避难所，导致有人指责维勒贝克美化了父权社会。本文通过认为提交来解决这两项指控根本不关心伊斯兰教；相反，它是对西方自由民主的讽刺，它以伊斯兰教为讽刺手段来说明西方自由民主观念的缺陷。因此，Submission围绕一场滑稽的民主选举展开，法国人民接受了他们新的非自由主义制度，这并非巧合。重要的是，尽管小说的主人公将政治伊斯兰教与西方自由民主进行了比较，但小说中有许多迹象表明，维勒贝克并不支持父权制的回归。最后，利用政治学，文章认为，维勒贝克的讽刺正确地指出了自由民主目前在整个西方实行的一些主要问题。