"The Bagatelle of Particle Waves": Facing the Hard Problem of Consciousness in Houellebecq's Les Particules Élémentaires and Mitchell's Ghostwritten. Issue 5 (19th October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Caracciolo, Marco
• Is Part Of: Critique. Volume 57:Issue 5(2016)
• Page Start: 487
• Page End: 501
• Publication Date: 2016-10-19
• Subjects: Contemporary fiction -- materialism -- quantum physics -- nonhuman -- metaphor; Fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Letterkunde; Engels; Electronic journals; 809.304
• DOI: 10.1080/00111619.2016.1138443
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0011-1619

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Does consciousness—the subjective texture of our interactions with the world—exist on a separate plane from physical matter (dualism)? Or, on the contrary, does it arise from matter (physicalism)? This article focuses on two contemporary novels that attempt to come to grips with this so-called hard problem of consciousness: Michel Houellebecq's Les Particules Élémentaires (1998) and David Mitchell's Ghostwritten (1999). The scientific community has espoused physicalism, but dualism is remarkably difficult to eradicate from our everyday understanding of mental processes. My case studies stage this tension through two strategies: first, they use quantum physics as an interim—and largely illusory—solution to the hard problem that opens the door to a posthuman future; second, they employ a variety of metaphors and similes that blend characters' mental life with nonhuman phenomena. In this way, Houellebecq and Mitchell highlight to the entanglement of consciousness and cosmological concerns, resonating with contemporary theorizations of the nonhuman.