And, speaking of creepy ambience, it doesn't get any creepier than Howard Phillips Lovecraft.  Against the World, Against Life is the latest entry in the longstanding tradition of French intellectuals championing an American creative artist -- think Baudelaire and Poe, Camus and James M. Cain, Goddard and Samuel Fuller, Jaques Tati and Jerry Lewis.  Houellebecq, however, has more of agenda than his precursors and skillfully blends his valorization of Lovecraft with a cultural critique of America.  This volume also contains two of Lovecraft's greatest tales:  "The Whisperer in Darkness" and "The Call of Cthulhu."  For a more detailed review, here's J. Hoberman's Village Voice review.  And, if that whets your appetite and you feel like taking a bite out of the book right away, here's a lengthy extract courtesy the Guardian.  And, as an added bonus, check out this complementary French celebration of American popular culture, The American Pulp Magazines Cover Gallery sponsored by L'encyclopedie Francophone de la SF.  Scroll to the bottom for the complete run of Weird Tales, where most of H.P. Lovecraft's works originally appeared.  Just click on the thumbnails for full-cover scans.