Michel Houellebecq: Not Casanova

25. January 2008 06:10

When I got on the plane I realized that I’m traveling to a festival devoted to Casanova, and I found it slightly shocking. Well, I guess for you it has many connotations - it evokes a lot. Casanova was a famous seducer, and his name has actually become a term in everyday language, and, perhaps, there’s a slight dissonance because the heroes of my novels are not Casanovas. In Whatever, the first one hasn’t had sex for years, and is depressed about it. He keeps trying and trying and is depressed about failing, while the other is trying to seduce any woman he comes in contact with, but he’s ugly, he has no charm, and no success. He’s never actually seduced a woman. I guess, if those people thought of someone like Casanova, they would have been terribly jealous. They would hate him, perhaps they would even think of killing him. Anyway, it is difficult to imagine a piece of literature so unlike Casanova.

Author: Michel Houellebecq

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