Before Paris Shooting, Authors Tapped Into Mood Of A France ‘Homesick At Home'

In New Novel, Houellebecq Imagines France With A Muslim President
French writer Michel Houellebecq poses on November 5, 2014 during his photo exhibition 'Before Landing' at the Pavillon Carre de Baudouin in Paris. AFP PHOTO/MIGUEL MEDINA (Photo credit should read MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)
French writer Michel Houellebecq poses on November 5, 2014 during his photo exhibition 'Before Landing' at the Pavillon Carre de Baudouin in Paris. AFP PHOTO/MIGUEL MEDINA (Photo credit should read MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)

PARIS — The cover of this week’s Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical newspaper that was the target of a massacre on Wednesday by masked gunmen, featured a cartoon depicting Michel Houellebecq, whose polemical — some say prophetic — new novel, “Submission,” imagines a Muslim becoming president of France in 2022.

Under the headline “The predictions of the Great Houellebecq,” the celebrated novelist, wearing a magician’s hat and holding a cigarette, says, “In 2015, I will lose my teeth. In 2022, I will celebrate Ramadan.”

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