Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter 1
2. Table of Contents 5
3. Preface 7
4. Part I: Lectures
5. Identity Against Culture 15
6. Getting Real: The Arts in Post-NEA America 53
7. Golden Ruins / Dark Raptures: The Literary Destruction of Los Angeles 77
8. The Work of Art and the Historical Future 99
9. Living in Fiction and History 118
10. Berlin in Autumn: The Philosopher in Old Age 136
11. The Novel in Africa 151
12. From the Beginning to the Present, and Facing the End: The Case of One Japanese Writer 172
13. Traditions of Conversion: Descartes and His Demon 193
14. Cannabis, Forgetting, and the Botany of Desire 221
15. Part II: Dialogues
16. Grounds for Remembering 247
17. They Know Everything: Children and Suffering 289
18. Sounding Lines: The Art of Translating Poetry 302
19. Migrations 321
20. Contributors 339
21. Photo Credits 344