French writer Michel Houellebecq goes missing
French writer Michel Houellebecq failed to show up for a scheduled reading tour of the Netherlands and Belgium and cannot be reached by his publishers, “Bloomberg” writes.
“We really don’t know what is happening,” said Barbara Simons, a spokeswoman for Het Beschrijf, the literary organization that arranged the tour. “It’s bizarre. There has been no news and he hasn’t arrived.”
Simons said neither Houellebecq’s French publisher, nor his agent, nor his translator knows where the 53-year-old writer is.
His trademarks are dark humor, biting social criticism, frequent philosophical allusions and a bleak vision of human relationships. Viewed as a prophet and genius by some, Houellebecq has been accused by others of misogyny, inciting racial hatred, moral bankruptcy and pornography.