In this major study, now available in paperback, Lyotard develops his analysis of the phenomenon of postmodernity, and examines the philosophy of Kant, Heidegger, Adorno and Derrida. Considering modernist and postmodernist art Lyotard looks at the works of Cezanne, Debussy and Boulez among others. He also addresses such issues as time and memory, the sublime and the avant-garde and the relationship between aesthetics and politics. Throughout his discussion, Lyotard considers the close but problematic links between modernity, progress and humanity, and the transition to postmodernity. He claims that it is the task of literature, philosophy and the arts to bear witness to and explain this difficult transition.