Michel Houellebecq: everything you need to know about his new novel

Lthe most important sentences ofannihilate (in lowercase letters, like the lives of his characters?) can be found on page 481. Here they are: “One evening he noticed a book lying on a desk – a Pleiad volume by The Human comedy – and put the question to Madeleine. Indeed, she confirmed to him, [son père] could read, with his help. When he had finished a page, he would look at it and blink; she would then turn the page to move on to the next. With the Pleiades it was fine, but with the normal books it was more difficult, you had to break the back so that the pages hold in place. “ A brief recontextualization is in order: this passage, located two-thirds of the way through the book, looks at two crucial characters in the novel: the father of the hero Paul, Édouard, a former servant …

SIPA ANDREU DALMAU / SIPA – Philippe MATSAS / Leextra via opale.photo