Marc Froment-Meurice has been a visiting professor at the University of California, Irvine, and at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is the author of Les Intermittences de la raison; La chose meme; and Tombeau de Trakl, among other works.

• Fore-word 1. There Is No Present 2. "We Must Be Absolutely Modern" 3. Farewell to Seasons 4. Should Trakl Be Burned? 5. Solitude of the Word 6. The Scaped Landscape 7. The Horror of Emptiness 8. Totalitarian Space 9. A Past That Will Not Pass Away Bibliography

"Not only has Froment-Meurice tackled the most demanding of poetic questions—what is modernity?—but he has not shied away from the truth that this is also and perhaps above all a political question, understanding this term in the broad sense. His work will be of importance to more than one constituency; scholars in both the humanities and the social sciences will benefit from his insights. The work is impressive for its erudition, and the author brilliantly illuminates the history of the myriad philosophical questions he raises. His familiarity with the history of Western philosophy is matched by an intimate knowledge of the writings of the poets." — Peter Connor, Barnard College