Notorious as a novelist, Michel Houellebecq was first known in France as a poet. In many ways it is through poetry that he found his novelist's voice. The Sense of the Struggle is a collection of prose and verse pieces which investigate issues of alienation, individualism and disillusionment - themes that will be familiar to Houellebecq readers - while subtly adopting a variety of tones and styles, revealing facets of the author unknown until now in the English-speaking world. Deeply melancholic and despairing at the inhumanity of the present-day world, yet brimming with vitality and invention, these timely, poignant poems clear away the dross of hollow optimism and call for an end to the nightmare of modern existence.