• Prologue: an ancient quarrel; 1. Rhetorics of blindness; 2. Polemics against presence; 3. Real history; 4. Foucault Inc.; 5. Under the influence.

'By focusing on the condescension with which philosophy has, since Plato, treated poetry, Edmundson has given us a remarkably successful and genuinely original treatment of the relation between contemporary European philosophy and American literary criticism. Though he writes in a spirit of reconciliation, his view is bound to be controversial. Many literary theorists have no wish to be reconciled with the poets.' Richard Rorty

• Prologue: an ancient quarrel; 1. Rhetorics of blindness; 2. Polemics against presence; 3. Real history; 4. Foucault Inc.; 5. Under the influence.

'By focusing on the condescension with which philosophy has, since Plato, treated poetry, Edmundson has given us a remarkably successful and genuinely original treatment of the relation between contemporary European philosophy and American literary criticism. Though he writes in a spirit of reconciliation, his view is bound to be controversial. Many literary theorists have no wish to be reconciled with the poets.' Richard Rorty

• Prologue: an ancient quarrel; 1. Rhetorics of blindness; 2. Polemics against presence; 3. Real history; 4. Foucault Inc.; 5. Under the influence.

'By focusing on the condescension with which philosophy has, since Plato, treated poetry, Edmundson has given us a remarkably successful and genuinely original treatment of the relation between contemporary European philosophy and American literary criticism. Though he writes in a spirit of reconciliation, his view is bound to be controversial. Many literary theorists have no wish to be reconciled with the poets.' Richard Rorty