Houllebecq for all his islamophobia is in general quite an exceptional writer, having read several of his early books I am curious enough to read his latest "propaganda". It's possible though that he's gone somewhat senile as he's always been a bit on the edge and quite an outsider from mainstream society.
Interestingly enough I visited the Charlie Hebdo offices almost by accident, back in 2010, while on vacation in Paris with my family. Was always a big fan of French comics like Fluide Glaciale (you can find lots of backissues on issuu if you are a fan, BTW), and having only recently heard of Charlie, I found their location on the net and just walked in the door, thinking I would find some old dudes with stacks of old comics lying around. At the time there had been no threats yet (those started in 2011) and they were just like, can we help you? I explained in my bad French that I thought it was a store of their old issues, excused myself and left. A year later they got firebombed and yesterday was the last attack... an unfair revenge committed by cowards who can't take a joke.
The fact is that in most Western countries you couldn't even publish stuff like that, making fun of all kinds of stuff that people hold sacred. Religion, sex, the law, politics, everything was a matter of ridicule and laughter in these publications I've seen. The caricatures they make of Jesus among others are so absurdly funny that in some countries they would get probably get prison sentences right away. That's one thing I noticed about French (and Italians to some extent), they basically will insult anyone and everyone whenever they feel like it.
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Interestingly enough I visited the Charlie Hebdo offices almost by accident, back in 2010, while on vacation in Paris with my family. Was always a big fan of French comics like Fluide Glaciale (you can find lots of backissues on issuu if you are a fan, BTW), and having only recently heard of Charlie, I found their location on the net and just walked in the door, thinking I would find some old dudes with stacks of old comics lying around. At the time there had been no threats yet (those started in 2011) and they were just like, can we help you? I explained in my bad French that I thought it was a store of their old issues, excused myself and left. A year later they got firebombed and yesterday was the last attack... an unfair revenge committed by cowards who can't take a joke.
The fact is that in most Western countries you couldn't even publish stuff like that, making fun of all kinds of stuff that people hold sacred. Religion, sex, the law, politics, everything was a matter of ridicule and laughter in these publications I've seen. The caricatures they make of Jesus among others are so absurdly funny that in some countries they would get probably get prison sentences right away. That's one thing I noticed about French (and Italians to some extent), they basically will insult anyone and everyone whenever they feel like it.