Public Enemies_ Dueling Writers Take on Each Other and the World - Bernard-Henri Levy [0]
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ALSO BY MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ
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H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life
A Random House Trade Paperback Original
Translation copyright © 2011 by
Michel Houellebecq, Bernard-Henri Lévy and
Éditions Flammarion and Éditions Grasset & Fasquelle
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House
Trade Paperbacks, an imprint of
The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
RANDOM HOUSE TRADE PAPERBACKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in the French language in France as Ennemis publics by Éditions Flammarion and Éditions Grasset & Fasquelle in 2008, copyright © 2008 by Flammarion/Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris.
The English translation is published in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Books, London.
Houellebecq, Michel.
[Ennemis publics. English]
Public enemies : dueling writers take on each other and the world / Bernard-Henri Lévy and Michel Houellebecq; translated from the French by Miriam Frendo and Frank Wynne.
p. cm.
Translated from the French.
eISBN: 978-1-58836-919-2
1. Houellebecq, Michel—Correspondence. 2. Lévy, Bernard-Henri—Correspondence. 3. Philosophy, French—21st century.
4. French literature—History and criticism. I. Lévy, Bernard-Henri.
II. Frendo, Miriam. III. Wynne, Frank. IV. Title.
PQ2668.O77Z4813 2010
843′.914—dc22
[B]
2009051670
www.atrandom.com
Cover design: Anna Bauer
Cover illustration: Steve Brodner
v3.1
Contents
Cover
Other Books by These Authors
Title Page
Copyright
Brussels, January 26, 2008
Paris, January 27, 2008
February 2, 2008
February 4, 2008
February 8, 2008
February 16, 2008
February 20, 2008
February 22, 2008
March 1, 2008
March 12, 2008
March 16, 2008
March 21, 2008
March 24, 2008
April 4, 2008
April 10, 2008
April 17, 2008
April 26, 2008
May 1, 2008
May 8, 2008
May 12, 2008
May 20, 2008
May 27, 2008
June 3, 2008
June 8, 2008
June 26, 2008
June 30, 2008
July 3, 2008
July 11, 2008
Glossary of Letters
About the Authors
About the Translators
Brussels, January 26, 2008
Dear Bernard-Henri Lévy,
We have, as they say, nothing in common—except for one essential trait: we are both rather contemptible individuals.
A specialist in farcical media stunts, you dishonor even the white shirts you always wear. An intimate of the powerful who, since childhood, has wallowed in obscene wealth, you are the epitome of what certain slightly tawdry magazines like Marianne still call “champagne socialism” and what German journalists more astutely refer to as the Toskana-Fraktion. A philosopher without an original idea but with excellent contacts, you are, in addition, the creator behind the most preposterous film in the history of cinema.
Nihilist, reactionary, cynic, racist, shameless misogynist: to lump me in with the rather unsavory family of “right-wing anarchists” would be to give me too much credit; basically, I’m just a redneck. An unremarkable author with no style, I achieved literary notoriety some years ago as the result of an uncharacteristic error in judgment by critics who had lost the plot. Happily, my heavy-handed provocations have since fallen from favor.
Together, we perfectly exemplify the shocking dumbing-down of French culture and intellect as was recently pointed out, sternly but fairly, by Time magazine.
We have contributed nothing to the electro-pop revival in France. We’re not even mentioned in the credits of Ratatouille.
These then are the terms of the debate.
Paris, January 27, 2008
The debate?
There are three possible approaches, dear Michel Houellebecq.
Approach 1. Well done. You’ve said it all. You’re mediocre, I’m