1. Trading Butterflies: The Representation of Asian Sex Workers in Vollmann and Houellebecq
- Author
-
Marco Malvestio
- Subjects
William T. Vollmann ,Michel Houellebecq ,Orientalism ,Satire ,Sex Trade ,Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar ,P101-410 ,Style. Composition. Rhetoric ,P301-301.5 ,Literature (General) ,PN1-6790 ,Oratory. Elocution, etc. ,PN4001-4355 - Abstract
The article compares the representation of Asian sex workers in William T. Vollmann’s Butterfly Stories(1993) and Michel Houellebecq’s Platform(Plateforme, 2001). Both the novels are set in South-East Asia, and both involve an apologetic and romanticised description of the sex trade. By comparing the two novels, I argue that both authors’ treatments of the sex industry develop a critique of Western Orientalism, and at the same time sympathy for and complicity with the colonial power dynamics that regulate the relationships between Asian countries and the West.
- Published
- 2019
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