Knopf, January 2012
Having risen quickly up the ranks of the art world, fictional artist Jed Martin is having his first genuine struggle in finishing a painting. Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons Dividing Up the Art Market features the two eponymous artists sitting in what could be the luxury suite of an Abu Dhabi hotel. They seem to be discussing their shared interest in wealth and their surprisingly integral role in the art market's mechanisms, their faces cynical, uncomfortable, and important. But, something's amiss with Jeff Koons; his rendering doesn't reveal anything soulful or real, and in fact manages to unveil a sterility in the painting as a whole. The message is there, but there is also an indelible emptiness at work. "He was making a truly shitty painting," Jed thinks during a rush of bitterness, and proceeds to cut his canvas apart with his palette knife.
Martin's vapid painting of Koons and Hirst was to be included in a forthcoming exhibition show. His gallerist is certain the exhibition would be big and surely skyrocket Martin's worth on the primary and secondary markets. In an effort to make Martin's opening even more of a success, the gallery intended to commission a famous author to pen the catalogue essay. "He thought of Houellebecq," Jed reveals during a dinner with his father. Naturally, his father had read a few of his novels and remembers them fondly: "he's pleasant to read, and he has quite an accurate view of society", he explains.
Having risen quickly up the ranks of the art world, fictional artist Jed Martin is having his first genuine struggle in finishing a painting. Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons Dividing Up the Art Market features the two eponymous artists sitting in what could be the luxury suite of an Abu Dhabi hotel. They seem to be discussing their shared interest in wealth and their surprisingly integral role in the art market's mechanisms, their faces cynical, uncomfortable, and important. But, something's amiss with Jeff Koons; his rendering doesn't reveal anything soulful or real, and in fact manages to unveil a sterility in the painting as a whole. The message is there, but there is also an indelible emptiness at work. "He was making a truly shitty painting," Jed thinks during a rush of bitterness, and proceeds to cut his canvas apart with his palette knife.
Martin's vapid painting of Koons and Hirst was to be included in a forthcoming exhibition show. His gallerist is certain the exhibition would be big and surely skyrocket Martin's worth on the primary and secondary markets. In an effort to make Martin's opening even more of a success, the gallery intended to commission a famous author to pen the catalogue essay. "He thought of Houellebecq," Jed reveals during a dinner with his father. Naturally, his father had read a few of his novels and remembers them fondly: "he's pleasant to read, and he has quite an accurate view of society", he explains.
The Map and the Territory is one those novels. The story backtracks slightly to show Jed's early work as a photographer of Michelin maps, but later jumps headlong into postmodernist metafiction as Jed builds his relationship with Michel Houellebecq, the divorced, curmudgeonly author of a few books that seem more famous and revered here than they likely are. Usually, this kind of self-awareness in literature results in mind-bending theatrics and causes readers to second-guess themselves as much they do the narrator. But, The Map and the Territory is slightly different; while the author still plays the role of both creator and character, in "reality" he leads an empty, disconnected life, much like Jed. In the novel, Houellebecq talks at Jed instead of with him, and rambles far too long on fairly tangential topics. In creating a novel like The Map and the Territory, it's clear that Houellebecq is a cunning, manipulative trickster, but the Houellebecq we see leads a sterile, uninspired life. It may be an authentic rendering of everyday living, but it's not much fun to read.
As if The Map and the Territory is Houellebecq's very own Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons Divide Up the Art Market, Houellebecq the author cuts an enormous hole in his own flat, stagnant creation and surprises readers with gratuitously brutal murder. The novel suddenly changes tracks for its last ninety pages and follows an investigator as he tries to crack the case.
On a strictly metafictional level, The Map and the Territory is quite successful, despite its frustrations. Houellebecq shows a commendable level of control in his manipulations, but writes with a self-congratulatory flair that would make Maurizio Cattelan blush. These narrative shenanigans are tolerable, but it's difficult to support these decisions when they seem to be coming from such an unnecessarily egotistical place.
As if The Map and the Territory is Houellebecq's very own Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons Divide Up the Art Market, Houellebecq the author cuts an enormous hole in his own flat, stagnant creation and surprises readers with gratuitously brutal murder. The novel suddenly changes tracks for its last ninety pages and follows an investigator as he tries to crack the case.
On a strictly metafictional level, The Map and the Territory is quite successful, despite its frustrations. Houellebecq shows a commendable level of control in his manipulations, but writes with a self-congratulatory flair that would make Maurizio Cattelan blush. These narrative shenanigans are tolerable, but it's difficult to support these decisions when they seem to be coming from such an unnecessarily egotistical place.
What ultimately fall flat in The Map and the Territory are Houellebecq's statements on artistry and the art market. It's impossible to accurately evaluate something as murky and protean as the art market through the lens of a fictional artist, because any grounded ideas a discussion like this may result in still stem from a hypothetical, fictional place. Further, the notion of aesthetics in art is jarringly absent in The Map and the Territory. Even the most ludicrously expensive paintings can be enjoyable to look at, and even the simplest plots can be fun to read at times. Houellebecq tries desperately to make grand statements about creativity and the worthiness of authorship, but seems to forget the viewer during his intellectual struggles. There's still a way to learn and evaluate the world through art and literature and enjoy oneself while doing it, but that's a task that should be left for another novel.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
