Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and Jean-Luc Nancy are philosophers who teach at the Université de Strasbourg. Cheryl Lester is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Kansas. Philip Barnard is Assistant Professor of Literature at American University.

"The authors have effectively situated romanticism within its philosophical context in a brilliant way." — Mark C. Taylor, Williams College"It is the most useful historical and theoretical study of its topic that has been published during the last twenty odd years. Everyone concerned with literary criticism and philosophy should have it to read more than once." — Werner Hamacher, The Johns Hopkins University

• Translators' Introduction: The Presentation of Romantic Literature Note on the Text Preface: The Literary Absolute Chronology Summary of the Athenaeum Overture: The System-Subject 1. The Fragment: The Fragmentary Exigency 2. The Idea: Religion within the Limits of Art Appendix: Note on Heinz Widerporst's Epicurean Confession of Faith 3. The Poem: A Nameless Art 4. Criticism: The Formation of Character Closure: Romantic Equivocity Notes Bibliography Appendix: Topical Index to the Fragments Index