À la recherche du bonheur

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter closely associated with the human state of happiness.

Its chemical structure consists of ten carbon atoms (C), twelve hydrogen atoms (H), two nitrogen atoms (N), and one oxygen atom (O).

In January 2019, Michel Houellebecq published the novel Serotonin. In 2020, François Mangeol approached this text through a conceptual gesture, reducing the entire novel to the chemical symbols that form the molecular composition of serotonin: C for carbon, H for hydrogen, N for nitrogen, and O for oxygen.

These symbols are isolated and distributed across the 352 pages of the book, transforming Houellebecq’s narrative into a minimal chemical language. The resulting sequence of letters becomes a poetic echo of the novel’s underlying theme—the fragile and often elusive search for happiness.