The Possibility of an Island

There are three main characters - Daniel and two of his clones.

Daniel is a successful comedian who can't seem to enjoy life despite his wealth. He gets bored with his hedonist lifestyle, but can't escape from it either. In the meanwhile he is disgruntled with the state of current society, and philosophizes about the nature of sex and love.

His two clones live an uneventful life as hermits, in a post-apocalyptic future. They live in a time where the human species is on its last legs (or, alternatively, on its first legs, as they have returned to societies of hunter-gatherer tribes), destroyed by climate change and nuclear war. The two clones are confronted with the life of the first Daniel and have different views about their predecessor. Scattered around are the remnants of tourist resorts, cities and consumer items and some natural humans living in small tribes without any knowledge of the past or of civilization.

• A film based on the novel, La Possibilité d'une île, premiered in France on September 10, 2008. The film was directed by Houellebecq himself.
• An excerpt from the novel is featured on the music album Comme si de rien n'étaitbyCarla Bruni (track 2).
• In 2009, Iggy Pop released the music album Préliminaires, which was based on the novel.

• Harris, John (2016). "Germline Modification and the Burden of Human Existence." Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 25(1), 6–18. doi:10.1017/s0963180115000237