Houellebecq wins top French literary prize

The controversial best-selling author Michel Houellebecq has won France’s most coveted literary prize - the Prix Goncourt - for his new novel.

'La Carte et Le Territoire' tells of a solitary, misanthropic artist who becomes a critical darling and commercial success almost in spite of himself.

It’s equal parts murder mystery and a meditation on the decline of post-industrial France, depicted as a sort of Disneyland for Chinese and Russian tourists.

Houellebecq’s previous novels courted controversy with explicit sex scenes and disparaging comments about women, minorities and Islam.

His new book – whose title translates as The Map and The Territory – hit French bookstores in September.