This book brings together an interdisciplinary group of contributors to explore the possibilities and limitations of presence from a variety of perspectives

Ranjan Ghosh teaches in the Department of English of the University of North Bengal, India. He is the author most recently of Lover's Quarrel with the Past: Heidegger's Philosophy in France, 1927–1961, also from Cornell.

Ethan Kleinberg is Professor of History and Letters at Wesleyan University and Executive Editor of History and Theory.

This book can be compared to a river: starting from the central notion of presence its chapters cover a whole delta of theoretical issues. In truly impressive fashion, the authors convince readers of the importance of the notion of presence. There is a certain ground to their argument, namely a 'return to the real.' The stakes could not possibly be higher and it cannot be doubted that with the notion of presence a new paradigm in the humanities announces itself.

Dominick LaCapra, Cornell University, author of History, Literature, Critical Theory:

Presence offers a timely constellation of essays addressing the recent turn toward presence in various disciplines, notably aesthetics, literary criticism, philosophy, and history. The interacting essays in this volume provide an informed, thought-provoking, sometimes contestable, and at points uncannily defamiliarizing guide to the sinuous, many-sided turn to presence.