And as things fell apart, nobody paid much attention

The numbing lists of things you were supposed to have as an American to make you happy, which ultimately, of course, don't. Those aren't the things that make you happy.

The Smiths are singing and someone says "Turn that gay angst music off.

Sex is mathematics. Individuality no longer an issue. What does intelligence signify? Define reason. Desire - meaningless. Intellect is not a cure. Justice is dead.

Michel Houellebecq is the most interesting, provocative and important European novelist of my generation. Period. No one else comes close. He has written two or maybe three great books, and his latest, The Map and the Territory, is one of them.

I really believe that readers are smart and sophisticated enough to realize that the author is not the narrator of his novels.

My pain is constant and sharp...this confession has meant nothing