26
" After having taken a long and hard look at the echelonment of the various appendices of the sexual function, the moment appears to have arrived to expound the central theorem of my apocritique. Unless you were to put a halt to the implacable unfolding of my reasoning with the objection that, good prince, I will permit you to formulate: "You take all your examples from adolescence, which is indeed an important period in life, but when all is said and done it only occupies an exceedingly brief fraction of this. Are you not afraid, then, that your conclusions, the finesse and rigour of which we admire, may ultimately turn out to be both partial and limited?" To this amiable adversary I will reply that adolescence is not only an important period in life, but that it is the only period where one may speak of life in the full sense of the word. The attractile drives are unleashed around the age of thirteen, after which they gradually diminish, or rather they are resolved in models of behaviour which are, after all, only constrained forces. The violence of the initial explosion means that the outcome of the conflict may remain uncertain for years; this is what is called a transitory regime in electrodynamics. But little by little the oscillations become slower, to the point of resolving themselves in mild and melancholic long waves; from this moment on all is decided, and life is nothing more than a preparation for death. This can be expressed in a more brutal and less exact way by saying that man is a diminished adolescent.
'After having taken a long and hard look at the echelonment of the various appendices of the sexual function, the moment seems to me to have come to expound the central theorem of my apocritique. For this I will utilize the lever of a condensed but adequate formulation, to wit:
Sexuality is a system of social hierarchy "
― Michel Houellebecq , Whatever
27
" 26 მაისს კლინიკა დავტოვე. მახსოვს, მზიანი დარი იდგა, ცხელოდა, ქუჩებში თავისუფლების სიო ქროდა. აუტანელი იყო.
მეც 26 მაისს ჩავისახე, ნაშუადღევს. წყვილის შეყრა სასტუმრო ოთახში მოხდა, ფსევდო-პაკისტანურ ხალიჩაზე. როცა მამაჩემი დედაჩემს უკნიდან მიაჯდა, დედაჩემს სწორედ მაშინ მოუნდა ხელი გაეწვდინა და კვერცხებზე მიფერებოდა, ჰოდა თესლმაც იფეთქა. დედაჩემმა კი ისიამოვნა, მაგრამ ორგაზმისა, რა მოგახსენოთ.. მოგვიანებით, ცივად მოხარშულ ქათამს მოუთავეს ხელი. ეს ყველაფერი ოცდაცამეტი წლის წინ მოხდა. მაშინ კიდევ შეიძლებოდა გემრიელი ქათმის ყიდვა. "
― Michel Houellebecq , Whatever
30
" And yet you haven’t always wanted to die.
You have had a life. There have been moments when you were having a life. Of course you don't remember too much about it; but there are photographs to prove it. This was probably happening round about the time of your adolescence, or just after. How great your appetite for life was, then! Existence seemed so rich in new possibilities. You might become a pop singer, go off to Venezuela.
More surprising still, you have had a childhood. Observe, now, a child of seven, playing with his little soldiers on the living room carpet. I want you to observe him closely. Since the divorce he no longer has a father. Only rarely does he see his mother, who occupies an important post in a cosmetics firm. And yet he plays with his little soldiers and the interest he takes in these representations of the world and of war seems very keen. He already lacks a bit of affection, that's for sure, but what an air he has of being interested in the world! "
― Michel Houellebecq , Whatever
33
" write animal stories. This one was called Dialogues Between a Cow and a Filly; a meditation on ethics, you might say; it had been inspired by a short business trip to Brittany. Here’s a key passage from it: ‘Let us first consider the Breton cow: all year round she thinks of nothing but grazing, her glossy muzzle ascends and descends with impressive regularity, and no shudder of anguish comes to trouble the wistful gaze of her light-brown eyes. All that is as it ought to be, and even appears to indicate a profound existential oneness, a decidedly enviable identity between her being-in-the-world and her being-in-itself. Alas, in this instance the philosopher is found wanting, and his conclusions, while based on a correct and profound intuition, will be rendered invalid if he has not previously taken the trouble of gathering documentary evidence from the naturalist. In fact the Breton cow’s nature is duplicitous. At certain times of the year (precisely determined by the inexorable functioning of genetic programming) an astonishing revolution takes place in her being. Her mooing becomes more strident, prolonged, its very harmonic texture modified to the point of recalling at times, and astonishingly so, certain groans which escape the sons of men. Her movements become more rapid, more nervous, from time to time she breaks into a trot. It is not simply her muzzle, though it seems, in its glossy regularity, conceived for reflecting the abiding presence of a mineral passivity, which contracts and twitches under the painful effect of an assuredly powerful desire. ‘The key to the riddle is extremely simple, and it is that what the Breton cow desires (thus demonstrating, and she must be given credit here, her life’s one desire) is, as the breeders say in their cynical parlance, “to get stuffed”. And stuff her they do, more or less directly; the artificial insemination syringe can in effect, whatever the cost in certain emotional complications, take the place of the bull’s penis in performing this function. In both cases the cow calms down and returns to her original state of earnest meditation, except that a few months later she will give birth to an adorable little calf. Which, let it be said in passing, means profit for the breeder.’ * The breeder, of course, symbolized God. Moved by an irrational sympathy for the filly, he promised her, starting from the next chapter, the everlasting delight of numerous stallions, while the cow, guilty of the sin of pride, was to be gradually condemned to the dismal pleasures of artificial fertilization. The pathetic mooing of the ruminant would prove incapable of swaying the judgment of the Great Architect. A delegation of sheep, formed in solidarity, had no better luck. The God presented in this short story was not, one observes, a merciful God. "
― Michel Houellebecq , Whatever
37
" მართა და მარტინი ორმოცდასამი წლის წინ შეიყარნენ. ქორწინებისას ორივე ოცდასამი წლის იყო, ასე რომ, ახლა სამოცდაოთხს უკაკუნებენ. პენსიაზე არიან, ან სადაცაა გავლენ. ასე ითხოვს საზოგადოებრივი წესი და რიგი. როგორც ამბობენ, სიამტკბილობაში დალევენ სულს. სწორედ ასე იქმნება საზოგადოებრივი კავშირ-ურთიერთობის გარეშე არსებული ერთიანობა, სახელად "წყვილი", რომელიც ბევრ შემთხვევაში ინდივიდუალიზმზე მაღლა დგას. ჩემი აზრით, უპრიანი იქნება, ამ კონკრეტულ შემთხვევაში, კიდევ ერთხელ შევეცადოთ, დავაზუსტოთ სიყვარულის არსი. "
― Michel Houellebecq , Whatever
