PHILADELPHIA — Zac, 26, lives in Philadelphia and works at an art gallery. He read The Possibility of an Island (tr. Gavin Bowd) in a week, finishing it hours before this conversation. I read it a couple months back, also fairly quickly. Michel Houellebecq (b. 1956), 61, is a novelist, filmmaker, and poet. He was born on the French island of Reunion, and lives in France. Houellebecq (Michel's grandmother's maiden name) had a child in 1980, shortly after graduating and marrying, before quickly "growing depressed," taking up poetry, and divorcing. His work has been described by NYT critic Michiko Kakutani as "deeply repugnant."
