Michel Houellebecq: Q&A with His Readers

What question would you ask Michel Houellebecq? Watch the French writer in this video, where he openly answers questions from his readers about his childhood, his favorite music, his research methods, as well as the relationship between Houellebecq himself and his literary characters. He also shares his advice for writing fearlessly: “There’s a very simple method consisting in convincing oneself that you’ll die before the book comes out and you won’t have to face the consequences.” Houellebecq shares how he often felt that he was playing a part as a child, to get better integrated where he was: “I was trying to pretend that I was normal and that I shared the same interests and games as my schoolmates. And I was quite successful in that.” Coming from a poor background, he was brought up by his grandparents, who were quite tolerant and not too worried about him. At this point, Houellebecq shares the story of how his grandmother defended him when a neighbour accused him of being odd because he talked to h