Extended struggle: The transgression of narrative boundaries in Extension du domaine de la lutte

Abstract

Michel Houellebecq’s novels typically end with their characters alone, dejected, and in a world on the brink of desolation. However, despite their sense of finality, these conclusions remain fraught with uncertainty. Using narrative tropes such as the introduction of epilogues, post-apocalyptic worlds, and open endings, Houellebecq goes beyond the constraints of narrative closure, suggesting that an essential element of transgression in his writing may be found at the very boundary of his texts. Through its reading of Extension du domaine de la lutte, this article analyses a sequence of extended closures through the second half of the novel, before examining the protagonist’s final journey as a parody of René Girard’s theory of conversion, leaving the reader with an ending that transgresses narrative bounds and opens the novel out to new rounds of ideological struggle.