The spectra of totalitarism in The elementary Particles

Abstract

The dystopian novel Atomised, by Michel Houellebecq, focuses on the cultural and political upheaval of May 1968. Th e author projects the consequences of this revolution in a totalitarian future populated by post-humans. Drawing from the writings of sociologist Auguste Comte and of Aristotle, the author develops in the prologue a concept of "metaphysical mutation" conjuring up implicitly this historic moment of rupture and transition, which the author then associates in the plot with various issues of postmodernity, decadence and the totalitarian world of tomorrow. With the help of theoretical tools often used in sociocriticism (intertextuality and interdiscursivity), and also in the light of different narratological issues, it is possible to highlight this catastrophic vision of the historical and biological evolution.