On the return of the (Media) author: Michel Houellebecq, écrivain médiatique

Ashley Harris

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

As literature faces the challenges of the cultural domination of mass media and new technologies of the Digital Age, a number of authors are addressing and adapting to this sociocultural shift. Using Houellebecq as a prominent example of the écrivain médiatique, this paper addresses a type of contemporary authorship that relies on more than the text and presents the author as a multimedia, visible and culturally relevant figure. Houellebecq extends his creative contribution beyond the novel into poetry, film, art, photography, music and other media, while also appearing on radio, television and online. He is particularly known for his persona outside of the text as well as the polemical content of his novels. His activities attest to a post-textual authordom, a reassertion of the presence of the author that paradoxically relies on more than the text but visibility, mediatisation and mass media. Such authorship reflects a solidification of the link between œuvre and industry, where mass media, mediatisation and commercialisation are no longer seen as limiting or denigrating the author but rather constitute necessary supports on the route to stardom. Between contesting and consenting to capitalistic markets and a "flattened" cultural landscape, Houellebecq presents his strategies as means to save the text and the author. These strategies in turn reflect changes in the value attributed to authorship and to the text. This paper considers the need to reassess authorship with new critical tools that are able to deal with these new authorial strategies, for example posturing (Meizoz), social discourse (Angenot) and transmediality (Saint-Gelais).
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 2020
EventHouellebecq's Cultural Transgressions - Institute of Modern Languages Research, London, United Kingdom
Duration: 29 Sept 201829 Sept 2018
https://sites.google.com/view/houellebecqtransgressions/home

Conference

ConferenceHouellebecq's Cultural Transgressions
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityLondon
Period29/09/201829/09/2018
Internet address

Keywords

  • French
  • Houellebecq
  • Media
  • Digital Humanities
  • French Literary field

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