Yes. Yes I Am. I Am A

I Laugh Maniacally, Then Take A Deep Breath And Touch My Chest- Expecting A Heart To Be Thumping Quickly, Impatiently, But There's Nothing There, Not Even A Beat.

I Am Gripped By An Existential Panic.

Do You Wear A Diaphragm Everywhere You Go?' I Want To Scream, But Stop Myself Because The Idea Really Excites Me.

A Great Numb Feeling Washes Over Me As I Let Go Of The Past And Look Forward To The Future. Pretend To Be A Vampire. I Don't Really Need To Pretend, Because It's Who I Am, An Emotional Vampire. I've Just Come To Expect It. Vampires Are Real. That I Was Born This Way. That I Feed Off Of Other People's Real Emotions. Search For This Night's Prey. Who Will It Be?

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.