Situations Come Together

Michel Houellebecq’s reputation precedes him. The French author is subject to controversy because his novels seem to unfortunately coincide with major acts of terrorism. For example, his 2015 novel Submission was released the same day of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, and the magazine serendipitously printed a caricature of Houellebecq on its cover the very day of the terrorist attacks. More contentious than the strange connection between his novels and political disruptions, however, are the novels themselves. Crass and politically incorrect, these books oftentimes disparage religion, women, and governments, and they are rife with vulgar violence and sex. Yet, Houellebecq remains one of the most popular authors in France, and he certainly maintains his position as one of the most disputed authors writing in the twenty-first century with his newest novel.

Though subdued compared to his other works, Serotonin is akin to Houellebecq’s oeuvre in many ways. Sex and drugs abound, the narrator is severely depressed, and the West is on a downward spiral toward calamity. Yet, Houellebecq’s eighth novel, wonderfully translated by Shaun Whiteside, Serotonin differs from the rest of his works in its attention to the agriculture crisis and its relation to labor unions; this thematic focus, furthermore, violently presents itself late in the novel. Houellebecq makes clear that the action takes place in present-day France: “It was early summer,” the narrator explains early in the novel, “probably about mid-July, sometime toward the end of the 2010s — I seem to remember that Emmanuel Macron was the President of the Republic.” The narrator is Florent-Claude Labrouste, a forty-six-year-old agricultural scientist whose profound depression leads him to take “a small, white, scored oval tablet;” the new antidepressant is called Captorix, and it increases the level of serotonin in the blood and does “not encourage suicidal tendencies or self-harm.” This drug, Florent’s doctor makes clear, will not cure depression and comes with a few serious side effects, namely impotence and the loss of libido. This is one of the novel’s main contestations: Florent needs this medicine, but at what cost? He is forced to sacrifice his sex life and the one true pleasure he has. Florent’s depression worsens because of his impotency, and he chooses to go “voluntarily missing,” forgoing his career at the Ministry of Agriculture, his comfortable Paris apartment, and his indifferent Japanese girlfriend Yuzu to venture the French countryside. This voluntary exodus from society reifies Florent as alone in his struggle; indeed, he notes this loneliness to justify his decision. He ruminates,

I too would become someone voluntarily missing, and my case was especially simple as I didn’t have to escape a wife, a family, a patiently constructed social environment, but merely a simply foreign live-in girlfriend who had no right to pursue me.

Florent’s choice to abandon his life catalyzes the novel’s temporal disjunction as his long drives and isolation spur remembrances of the bygone eras of his youth.

Florent’s narration switches from key moments in his past to different places he visits while on Captorix in the present. The protagonist emphasizes the deluge of memories, “You plunge into the past, you begin to plunge into it and then it seems as if you’re being engulfed by it, and nothing can put a limit on that engulfment.” As with all of his novels, Houellebecq deftly weaves the narrative past and present together and presents their various players, characterizing the protagonist as a man defined not just by his past and present decisions but also by those who play key roles in shaping his worldview and understanding of himself. More specifically, these people are his numerous exgirlfriends (one of whom he meticulously stalks toward the end of the novel) and his best friend from college, Aymeric, a divorced milk farmer who struggles against the EU-sanctioned milk quotas in an attempt to curb the rising production across Europe. Interestingly, Houellebecq introduces this subplot with Aymeric and the EU quotas comes...