The Elementary Particles (26 page)
Having broken the filial chain that linked us to humanity, we live on. Men consider us to be happy; it is certainly true that we have succeeded in overcoming the forces of egotism, cruelty and anger which they could not. We live very different lives. Science and art are still a part of our society; but without the stimulus of personal vanity, the pursuit of Truth and Beauty has taken on a less urgent aspect. To humans of the old species, our world seems a paradise. We have even been known to refer to ourselves—with a certain humor—by the name they so long dreamed of: gods.
History exists; it is elemental, it dominates, its rule is inexorable. Yet outside the strict confines of history, the ultimate ambition of this book is to salute the brave and unfortunate species which created us. This vile, unhappy race, barely different from the apes, which nevertheless carried within it such noble aspirations. Tortured, contradictory, individualistic, quarrelsome and infinitely selfish, it was sometimes capable of extraordinary explosions of violence, but never quite abandoned its belief in love. This species which, for the first time in history, was able to envision the possibility of its succession and, some years later, proved capable of bringing it about. As the last members of this race are extinguished, we think it just to render this last tribute to humanity, an homage which itself will one day disappear, buried beneath the sands of time. It is necessary that this tribute be made, if only once. This book is dedicated to mankind.
ALSO BY MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ
Whatever
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
Translation copyright © 2000 by Frank Wynne
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York.
Originally published in France as
Les particules élémentaires
by Flammarion, Paris, in 1998. Copyright © 1998 by Flammarion, Paris. This translation was first published in the United Kingdom under the title
Atomised
by William Heinemann, an imprint of The Random House Group Limited, London.
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
The publisher wishes to thank Asya Muchnick for her comprehensive assistance in translating and editing this text.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Houellebecq, Michel.
[Particules élémentaires. English]
The elementary particles / Michel Houellebecq ; translated by Frank Wynne.
p. cm.
I. Wynne, Frank. II. Title.
PQ2668.077 P3713 2000
843'.914—dc21 00-040568
eISBN: 978-0-375-41264-6
v3.0
