Fernando Arrabal Defends Houellebecq's 'La Possibilité d'une île' Amid Pre-Publication Hype

Fernando Arrabal, a close friend of Michel Houellebecq, contributes a passionate defense of Houellebecq's novel 'La Possibilité d'une île' in artpress, published just before its official release on August 31, 2005, in Paris by Fayard. The novel has already sparked intense media controversy, with early readers including Dominique Noguez, Philippe Sollers, and Marc Fumaroli. Arrabal's text celebrates the novel's themes of unconditional love, cloning, and spiritual quest, noting that Houellebecq dedicates the book to Antonio Muñoz Ballesta and his wife Nico. The narrative follows Daniel1 and his love for Esther, a young woman, and later Daniel25 in a post-apocalyptic future. Arrabal highlights the role of Fox, the author's dog, as a symbol of unconditional love, and references to philosophers Spinoza and Schopenhauer as precursors to cloning. The novel's title is explained by a poem on page 433, also published separately in a limited edition of 36 copies as a box-object by Juan Carlos Valera. Arrabal calls the novel 'the best book of the third millennium.'