Celebrated French author, Michel Houellebecq has refuted allegations that his new novel is an Islamophobic scare story.<br /><br /> ‘==‘Submission’ == which is published today ( Jan.7) tells of the 2022 French presidential election which is won by a Muslim and is followed by an erosion of personal and religious freedoms and the wearing of the veil .<br /><br /> Critics say the book which includes Front National leader Marine Le Pen losing the presidency to the Muslim rival is fuel for her party’s far-right policies and is a Christmas gift for her.<br /><br /> “She does not need that,” said Houellebecq.<br />“Everything is going relatively well for her at the moment. I do not think that the book will change her destiny. I do not see any examples where novels (fiction) have changed History. Other things change History like essays or the Manifesto of the Communist Party, things like that, but not novels.”<br /><br /> Houellebecq calls his book ‘a realistic vision for a possible future’, but its release comes less than three months before French regional elections which have already been dominated by debates over immigration.
