Houellebecq’s Annihilation: an unlikely antidote to nihilism

Michel Houellebecq has said that his latest novel, Annihilation , will be his last.

His departure will deprive us of a rare literary voice.

Through his novels he is able to explore the mood of the times, our spiritual malaise.

His final novel strikes a rare note of hope among his usual cynicism and despair.

Houellebecq ’s trademark pessimism and anti-Enlightenment sentiments are still to be found in Annihilation.

But they are now leavened by the loving and practical Catholicism embodied in the character of Cécile .

This is surprising, but it's quite the turn-around.