Two half-brothers, Michel and Bruno, grow up in the 1960s and
live through decades of major social changes. Bruno, probably
because of the abuse he experienced at school from other boys
and other early sexual adventures, has a proclivity for young
girls. Bruno tends to be obsessed by sex. Michel is more cerebral,
works on molecular biology, and is an important figure in his
field, even a candidate for a Nobel prize. The book ends in a
future decade, when the true significance of Michel’s work for
cloning has been recognized.

The story of the brothers is told through shifting from backward
and forward in time. As befits the French rationalist tradition,
Houellebecq tells not only the story of his two main characters,
but also the story of the intellectual and cultural traditions
of the twentieth century. He includes the significance of quantum
mechanics, famous movies, naturism, feminism, consumerism, religion,
and more. To a large extent, it’s a critique of modern society,
or at least a dark comedy. There’s a great deal of unpolitically
correct diatribe, especially from Bruno, who thinks of women as
objects for his pleasure and becomes a racist because he thinks
that blacks have larger penises than him. At one point, he has
a mental breakdown and is hospitalized. He’s an interesting character,
far more so than the anemic Michel.

The book caused controversy in France when it was published, and
has received high praise from other European reviewers. It is
true that this is a remarkable novel in its attempt to deal explicitly
with great cultural and political themes. Most novels these days
leave those issues in the background, touched on but not addressed
in bold terms. But insofar as the novel puts forward any kind
of argument, it’s utterly unconvincing, and as with so much of
the French intellectual tradition, is full of hot air, more style
than substance.

A note on the translation

The American version and the British version are
slightly different translations. They have different titles (the British is called Atomized), and
very different covers. The British cover features a young looking
blond woman, standing only in her girlish underwear — a simple
way to sell a book. The US version looks far more serious, two
different male eyes staring out from two circular holes. (The
French version has
an photograph of a middle aged man with a cigarette in one hand
and a plastic shopping bag on the other arm.)

The translator is Frank Wynne. But the US edition also contains
thanks from the publisher to Asya Muchnick "for her comprehensive
assistace and editing this text." Many of the differences
between the translations involve simple differences between British
and American usages — "ready meal" versus "TV
dinner", "sink" versus "washbasin", "rubbish"
versus "trash." But there are also a number of stylistic
differences. The American version has a few more paragraph breaks
than the British version, and more occasional gaps between successive
paragraphs. At some points, the translations differ in content:
for instance: "at his insistence" versus "at his
request". But for the most part it looks like there are very
few significant differences between these two versions.

© 2001 Christian Perring. First Serial Rights.

Christian Perring,
Ph.D., is Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College,
Long Island. He is editor of Metapsychology Online Review.
His main research is on philosophical issues in psychiatry.
He is especially interested in exploring how philosophers can
play a greater role in public life. He is available to give talks
on many philosophical or controversial issues in mental health.

Categories: Fiction