Of the Sublime: Presence in Question

Jeffrey S. Librett is Assistant Professor of German in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Loyola University.

"With its ruined castles and uncanny ghosts, the sublime has always been the secret truth of deconstruction, and indeed of post-structuralism in general. Hence it comes that these essays were first collected under the auspices of a series called 'L'Extrême contemporain.' Combining work by some of France's leading philosophers and by some of their most gifted students, it offers unique insights into the latest thinking about Schelling, Hegel, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, and particularly Kant—the flesh-and-blood, passionate, divided, even violent Kant that we have been coming to see behind the impersonal mask of the Critiques. Rich in meditation and precise in philology, it is beautifully summed up by Louis Marin's concluding reflection on a painting of Nicolas Poussin. Jeffrey Librett's translation of the difficult texts is admirably faithful, idiomatic, and readable, and he contributes a lively essay on Heidegger as an overview of the collection's approaches and insights." — Marshall Brown, University of Washington"Many readers will discover something new about the topics of Kant and the sublime in these essays; they are all models of scholarship and well-attuned acts of reading. The translation is excellent." — Peter Fenves, Northwestern University

• Note on the Translation Preface to the French EditionJean-Luc Nancy 1. The Discourse of Exaltation: Contribution to a Rereading of Pseudo-LonginusMichel Deguy 2. The Sublime OfferingJean-Luc Nancy 3. Kant or the Simplicity of the SublimeEliane Escoubas 4. Sublime TruthPhilippe Lacoue-Labarthe 5. The Interest of the SublimeJean-Francois Lyotard 6. The Gift of the WorldJacob Rogozinski 7. Tragedy amd Sublimity: The Speculative Interpretation of Oedipus Rex on the Threshold of German IdealismJean-Francois Courtine 8. On a Tower of Babel in a Painting by PoussinLouis Marin Afterword: Positing the Sublime: Reading Heidegger Reading KantJeffrey S. Librett Contributors Notes Index