Entre éloge et blâme : polyphonie et critique du tourisme dans Lanzarote et Plateforme de Michel Houellebecq

Abstract

This article analyzes the representation of mass tourism in two novels by Michel Houellebecq – Lanzarote (2000) and Plateforme (2001) – and reveals that behind the apparent fascination of the protagonists for the discourses of tourism lies an unapologetic criticism of the tourist industry. In this article, I focus on the protagonists’ attacks on two types of tourist discourses (tourist guides and travel brochures) and demonstrate that while they recognize their seductive power on the consumer, they also mock their formulaic and often deceptive rhetoric by using irony, playing with stereotypes, and by quoting, parodying, and pastiching their style. Ultimately, they denounce the way in which the tourist’s experience is conditioned by a number of narratives on the country and its inhabitants that act as filters between the traveler and reality, and contribute to propagate a stereotypical and/or ideological vision of the world.

Keywords

• Houellebecq (Michel)
• polyphony
• tourism
• travel narrative
• stereotypes