Investigando Serotonina, de Michel Houellebecq, por meio das análises de Jean Baudrillard

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the novel Serotonin (2019), by Michel Houellebecq, through the analyses of Jean Baudrillard, with the aim of understanding how the existential crisis experienced by the 7ociety7ista, Florent-Claude Labrouste, is articulated with a broader problem of contemporary social reality. The study is based on the hypothesis that the individual malaise depicted in the novel is not limited to a psychological dimension, but rather expresses symptoms of a catastrophic process characterized by the dissolution of symbolic 7ociety7is, hyperreality, and the proliferation of simulacra. The theoretical framework is grounded primarily in Baudrillardian concepts such as simulacrum, simulation, hyperreality, sign-value, and symbolic 7ociety7, which are employed as critical tools to interpret the narrator’s experience and the structural 7ociety7 the novel. Methodologically, the research adopts a qualitative approach of a bibliographic and analytical-interpretative nature, articulating the 7ociety of the literary work with relevant theoretical and critical texts. The analysis is organized around four main axes: the crisis of identity and happiness, the crisis of alterity and affective relationships, the crisis of labor and the rural economy, and, finally, the political, cultural, and spiritual crisis of the West. Throughout the discussion, it is demonstrated that Labrouste’s attempts to confer meaning upon his own existence operate through simulacra that conceal the absence of a stable real, thereby deepening his sense of emptiness and powerlessness. It is concluded that Serotonin can be read as na allegory of the transition from crisis to 7ociety7is, in which the 7ociety7ista’s individual experience reflects a broader symbolic 7ociety of contemporary 7ociety, marked by the impossibility of meaningful exchanges, the exhaustion of political narratives, and the commodification of affects.