Sentimentalist code in the novel 'Serotonin' by M. Houellebecq

The article analyzes sentimentalist origins in the poetics of the novel Serotonin (2019) by M. Houellebecq. It considers realization of the sentimentalism traditions in the literature process at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries; the analysis is based on the studies of Russian and foreign scholars. The revival of interest in the inner world of a private person, sincerity of the words is considered to be one of the main reasons for developing ‘new sentimentality'. The research is focused on J. J. Rousseau's traditions in sentimentalism. The paper provides a comparative analysis of the novel under study and autobiographic works by J. J. Rousseau such as The Confessions (Les Confessions, 1765-1770) and Reveries of the Solitary Walker (Les reveries du promeneur solitaire, 1776-1778). The starting point of the plot in both Reveries of the Solitary Walker by Rousseau and Serotonin by Houellebecq is the narrator's statement of his absolute solitude and premonition of his coming death. In such tragic circumstances every person tries to say the last words about themselves. In both novels the theme of writing is of great importance and the narrator's own personality and destiny become an object of creative reflection. The main purpose of the narrator in Reveries of the Solitary Walker is to tell the truth about himself to himself. There is no companion in the person of a compassionate reader, which is important to the sentimentalist tradition, in the Rousseau's novel. The character of narrator in the novel by Houellebecq is focused on describing the circumstances which led him to the failure in the fight for survival. That is why his life ends in loneliness, sadness and suffering. Reflecting upon his own life, he offers the attentive reader to fill the gaps and establish a casual connection. The theme of memory is realized in relation to the process of self-description. In the Rousseau's novel, the narrator's diving into himself and writing about himself are done during his solitude walks full of dreaming and contemplation of nature, which helps him find peace and quiet. The Houellebecq‘s narrator compares his own experience with that of the Rousseau's character and admits the mediocrity and insignificance of his own existence. He is running on a sentimental journey to the places of the lost love and friendship but he is incapable of reaching unity with nature, which could be salvation for him. His lot is despair. Reproducing a significant number of motifs and images used by Rousseau in The Confession and Reveries of the Solitary Walker, Houellebecq reflects on the human and eternal values via the dialogue.