The Great Provocateur.(Brief Article)(Review)

The go-go bars and whorehouses of Patong Beach are filled with a swarm of hulking, white-skinned Westerners. Moving through the crowds, Americans, Swedes and Australians grope the throngs--and thongs--of Thai prostitutes. Strolling along the makeshift boardwalk, Michel, a lonely and frustrated French bureaucrat on a package tour, takes in the scene. It is at that moment, writes Michel Houellebecq in his new novel, "Plateforme," surrounded by these lust-seekers, "irreproachable and full of life," that his protagonist's dark vision hits: sexual tourism is "the future of the world."

Scenes like these have turned Houellebecq, 43, into the most talked- about literary sensation France has seen in 30 years. By turns furiously cynical, bitterly hopeless and, at times, surprisingly idealistic, Houellebecq's provocateur style has seized millions of readers. After the publication of his second novel, "The Elementary Particles," in 1998, Houellebecq was labeled a fascist and a misogynist--or simply a bad writer--by some French critics, a visionary by others. A tale of sexual misery, cloning and family tragedy, "Particles" was a searing condemnation of Western consumer society. It was a hit. "Particles" sold 350,000 copies in France and was translated into 25 languages. "Plateforme," his third novel, appeared in French bookstores last week, and the uncomfortable questions Houellebecq raises are already causing a stir.

The world in "Plateforme" is indeed grim--a gloomy marketplace where sex and steel are bought and sold with equal amounts of sang-froid. Houellebecq's penchant for ranting against the modern world is undiminished. Raised by his communist grandmother, the writer was apparently influenced by some of her politics. As Thailand's steel industry falls apart, unable to compete in the world market, millions of women turn to prostitution. It's Europe's multinational tour companies that cash in. If thousands of eligible Western men come to Thailand to find pleasure--or often partners--writes Houellebecq, it's because they feel inadequate in their own societies. Love has disappeared from the West, replaced by an overwhelming consumerism that emphasizes, above all else, the return on your investment. Globalization has spread that ethos to the farthest corners of the earth, writes Houellebecq, destroying our capacity to enjoy meaningful sex, or even each other. The resulting world, filled with desperate and emotionally vapid sexual tourists, couldn't be a scarier place. Thai prostitutes want nothing more than to ...