In an interview in the newly relaunched Paris Review, Micheal Houellebecq ellaborates on the inspiration for his critically exclaimed debut novel, Whatever, about a sexually frustrated computer programmer.
"I hadn’t seen any novel make the statement that entering the workforce was like entering the grave. That from then on, nothing happens and you have to pretend to be interested in your work. And, furthermore, that some people have a sex life and others don’t just because some are more attractive than others. I wanted to acknowledge that if people don’t have a sex life, it’s not for some moral reason, it’s just because they’re ugly. Once you’ve said it, it sounds obvious, but I wanted to say it."
The divisively blunt writer and twice divorced father, now on the outs with the French media and living in Ireland for tax purposes, also expounds on his romantic notions of fatherhood.
"Yes. There is some kind of physiological and psychological change in a woman when she gets pregnant. It’s animal biology. But fathers don’t give a shit about their offspring. Hormonal things occur, things that no culture can do anything about, that generally make women like children and men basically not give a damn."
