Les tentations de François. Une note théologico-politique sur Soumission de Michel Houellebecq

The temptations of Francis. A theological-political note on Submission by Michel Houellebecq

Abstract

Starting from Tocqueville’s theories on modern democracy and Dostoyevsky’s allegory of Grand Inquisitor, this article attempts to detect the hidden inclination of François – the main character of the novel – that inspires the French writer Michel Houellebecq in its political novel Submission (2015), a bestseller that imagines a Muslim party might be winning the 2022 presidential election in France, with the support of Socialist Party. The temptation of Christ, as described in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, is the hermeneutical key to explain why, in this completely different society, François is finally led to convert to Islam.