Introduction

During an interview, the French iconoclast novelist, Michel Houellebecq declared to The Guardian: “Am I Islamophobic? Probably yes.”¹ Indeed, the interview was made on the occasion of the publication of his controversial novel Soumission (Submission) published in French in 2015, and translated into English in the same year,² having been published now in more than 20 languages. The novel’s plot is simple. …