Author Houellebecq gets Legion of Honour

MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ, the controversial author who predicts the doom of western civilisation in his new novel, was awarded the Legion of Honour, France’s highest civilian distinction, in the New Year honours list yesterday.

Seratonin, which is released on Friday, focuses on the festering rage in provincial France that has exploded into the “yellow vest” protests.

Like Houellebecq’s previous books, it is set to become an instant bestseller and is already being hailed as the biggest literary event of 2019.

It is also likely to enrage those who object to the views that have made Houellebecq, 62, an iconic figure for the nationalist, eurosceptic Right.

Houellebecq’s bleak view of France and Europe is much in evidence in the novel, the title of which refers to an ingredient in the anti-depressant taken by the anti-hero.

“No one in the West will ever be happy again,” he writes. “This is how a civilisation dies, without danger or drama and with very little carnage.”

His previous book, Submission, about a Muslim president governing France, was featured in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo just days before its office was attacked by Islamist gunmen, who killed 12 people, in 2015.

“I’m prepared to vote for anyone provided we propose to exit the European Union and Nato,” Houllebecq said in October.

“Europe has chosen a particular mode of suicide that involves murdering the nations that make it up.”