The post-truth vision of the hyperreal erosion of human sexuality in Jean Baudrillard’s philosophy and Michel Houellebecq’s Extension du domaine de la lutte

Abstract

Adopting a postmodern approach, this essay examines Michel Houellebecq’s first novel Extension du domaine de la lutte from a Baudrillardian lens. Specifically, this investigation explores how Baudrillard and Houellebecq’s dystopian tableau of the hyperreal erosion of human sexuality offers invaluable insights into the new human condition in the post-truth era. In a realm of spectacle that appears to know no bounds in the age of (dis-)information, they deconstruct the mind-numbing, erotic fantasies that have eclipsed the real in the indoctrinated imagination of consumer citizens. The crimes against reality that Baudrillard and Houellebecq decry are not harmless fantasies, but rather these pervasive simulacra have real-life consequences. Specifically, they persuasively posit that our very humanity and corporality have been stripped away by erotic simulations representing a libidinal utopia that has never existed anywhere. Submerged underneath a tsunami of simulacra that have profoundly impacted all human relations in consumer republics, we find ourselves in uncharted, perilous waters as the sea continues to rise with each passing day.