French · b. 1956
Michel Houellebecq is the most controversial French novelist of his generation. "Atomised" (1998) diagnosed Western malaise through two half-brothers; "The Map and the Territory" (2010) won the Prix Goncourt. Houellebecq writes about sex tourism, genetic engineering, Islam, and capitalism with a provocateur's relish and a nihilist's exhaustion. His prose is flat; his characters are miserable; his novels are impossible to ignore. He has been accused of racism and defended as a satirist. The arguments continue.