From Zola to Celine, Cocteau, Queneau, Bataille, Duras and onwards to Houellebecq (and others), the French relish and celebrate controversiality.<p>If a French literary author is not controversial, they have failed.<p>It&#x27;s nothing much, and nothing like the &quot;career stopper&quot; that this can be in the anglo-saxon world -- they&#x27;ll still get top honors at the Académie française (the very core of the establishment) eventually.