Metaprosy origin in the novel "Whatever" by M. Houellebecq

The article examines the system of realization of metafiction in the debut novel Whatever (1994) by the contemporary French writer M.Houellebecq. It considers the genre tradition of the novel about the novel, which plays a key role in the development of French literature of the twentieth century. The article provides the detailed analysis of the concept of novelistic creativity and the hero-writer type. Houellebecq's postexistential novel fits into the context of self-reflection literature of the XIXth and XXth centuries. (The Songs of Maldoror by Lautreamont and Nausea by Sartre). It is deducted that the postmodern version of the novel about the novel reflects a pessimistic mindset of the generation at the turn of XX-XXIth centuries as well as an attempt to overcome the crisis of consciousness of creative personality.