The Map and the Territory Review

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The Map and the Territory ReviewWith his earlier novels, Houellebecq built a tragi-comic cult around himself as the "enfant terrible" of deadpan cultural sniping and sloppy French schadenfreude. He stands in the background of his novels - a listless and derisive puppet-master - pulling the strings of his hilarious two-dimensional characters. And then WHAM! -- in this cunning novel he writes a razor sharp parable that stars none other than himself as a central character, and a simulacra of himself as a main character. Capitalist ennui and social entropy change positions from laborious thematic backdrop to front-and-center subject, and all of sudden Houellebecq has himself a 21st century version of Candide.
The M and the T is the story of an artist, Jed Martin, who produces work from a position of great detachment without really relating to or buying into the world he depicts. Like the art-world version of M. Mersault, he rubs up against his cultural milieu but never gets admitted on a human level even after he accrues a mountain of wealth. Two-thirds of the novel is magnificent allegory but (no spoilers) the final third is outstanding dark comedy.
American reviewers will, in so many words, point out that Houellebecq is not a graduate of the Iowa Writing School. In America, fiction writing is supposed to be pruned to perfection and demonstrate a subtle balance of political correctness and Shell Silverstein whimsy that, above all, showcases the writer's ability to craft a commodity for the New York Times book review set. Houellebecq achieves none of this. His plot lurches. He uses dialogue to disgorge philosophical stance. Who cares? He is as consistently allergic to cultural masquerading and social posturing as Zarathustra, and yet, he is sentimental as well. Sentence after sentence in this novel are worth saving as talismans against soullessness, and serious readers will find it worthwhile.
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