38. Karl Ove Knausgaard vs. Michel Houllebecq: To Condemn With Faint Praise

This podcast is a presentation of The Meow Library.

"Houllebecq is considered a great contemporary author, and one cannot be said to be keeping abreast of contemporary literature without reading his work."

- Karl Ove Knausgaard, The New York Times Book Review

This blurb, from the jacket of the American edition of Michel Houellebecq's Submission, has been making the rounds on Twitter, with Knausgaard accused of damning his contemporary by faint praise. Is this a textbook case of Continental passive-aggressiveness, or simply an unfortunate editorial choice by the publisher? The Meow Library's senior editor, who has carefully selected the dozens of blurbs appearing across our Classics selection, weighs in on the matter.

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