‘Submission’ a timely read on religion and politics

In the height of our current political cycle with its narrative being spun as an insider versus outside competition, set against a backdrop of heightened anxiety concerning the role of Muslims within American society, there are bound to be a few works of fiction that provide an opportunity to pause and reflect on this zeitgeist.

The darkly satirical novel “Submission” by French author Michel Houellebecq, though revolving around France’s political climate, offers such.

In France’s not-so-distant future — 2022 — an Islamist party, The Muslim Brotherhood (no relation to that of Egypt), attains the presidency through building a coalition among the traditional center-right and center-left parties against the fervently nationalist National Front candidate Marine Le Pen. That the main candidates to square off in the runoff election are from fringe parties is a direct result of voter dissatisfaction with the status-quo — anti-immigrant conservatives concerned about changes within French society and global economic forces align themselves with the National Front while actors of the far-left side with the Muslim Brotherhood as they are seen as more sympathetic to their cause of economic redistribution. Remnants of the centrist parties, seeing the National Front’s economic protectionist stance as detrimental to France’s well-being, put their support behind Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Ben-Abbes.

Once in power, President Ben-Abbes dismantles many of the restrictions the French government had previously placed on religious practices, in particular those on Islam, and removes the ban on burkas (eventually mandating them) and decriminalizes the practice of polygamy. Government stipends are provided to families in order to allow for women to withdraw from the workforce. In order to pay for this stipend the university system is privatized. The royal family of Saudi Arabia steps in the fill the higher education void, emphasizing a curriculum congruent to Islamic teaching and all non-Muslim faculty are forced into early retirement, albeit with a very generous pension.

Watching these events unfold is François, a middle-aged academic whose life work revolves around the study of Joris-Karl Huysmans, liaisons with his students, and obsessing over microwavable Indian dinners with an almost Patrick Bateman level of detail. Losing his job in the privatization of the university system, François is set adrift, living off his pension and watching his tenuous relationships unravel. His young Jewish girlfriend flees for Israel in the face of the inevitable wave of anti-Semitism to sweep the country and both his parents with whom he has no meaningful connection pass away. He neglects to mourn the loss of these people who should be central to his life and instead basks in his ennui and compulsively rereads Huysman’s body of work, hoping to find a greater sense of fulfillment.

“Submission” concludes with François being offered a teaching position at the rechristened Islamic University of Paris contingent upon his conversion to Islam, which upon reflecting how mundane his life has been up to that point, he dutifully accepts. He will be able to once again put his niche body of knowledge to work and resume carrying on affairs with his students.

For those that have read English interpretations of the Koran, submission is a familiar concept: Submission to God, submission to His will, submission to Islam. In the case of Francois, when he converts to Islam, his submission is not based on any kind of spiritual awakening, but upon the realization that his conversion is a path to regain social status. The true horror of “Submission” lies not in the hypothetical situation of France becoming a totalitarian theocracy, but that men are capable of being complicit in such forces in order to advance their own material interests.

Its unthinkable that a “Submission” scenario would actually play out in France — let alone the United States — however the “anti-establishment” mood depicted in the novel is a very real phenomenon across much of the Western world and regardless of what happens this November has left an indelible mark upon our collective psyche.

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James Dean Kindle is a Pendleton musician and the executive director of the Oregon East Symphony. Contact him at jamesdeankindle@eastoregonian.com.