Nihilistic Network:Musil, Kundera and Houellebecq

This paper aims to create a semantic network that analyzies the evolution of nihilistic thought through three epochs of literary practice: modernism, postmodernism and contemporaneity. Following this, I propose that such a network can be constructed diachronically through the works of Robert Musil, Milan Kundera and Michael Houellebecq. Tackling subjects such as imperialism, migration, dictatorship, transnationality, I argue that the roots of their epistemological ethos lie predominantly in a nihilistic philosophy, a common core for these three authors. Therefore, starting from Musil’s The Man Without Qualities, this paper will analyse how nietzschean nihilism and the ontological crisis is reflected in his novel. Consequently, through Kundera’s novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I shall argue that his postmodern nihilistic view can be articulated through Matei Călinescu’s concept of epistemological nihilism. Finally, trying to expose the zeitgeist of contemporaneity, I shall explain how Houellebecq’s perspective towards the individual-society duality in Submission can be expressed in relation with Jean Baudrillard concept of transparent nihilism.