This collection of essays on aesthetics is the first set of Dufrenne’s shorter pieces to appear in English. It is arranged thematically and includes works from as early as 1948 to as late as 1974. … In these essays Dufrenne covers a lot of ground and draws into his discussion of aesthetics a whole range of thinkers, including Barthes, Foucault, Lyotard, Metz, Freud and Derrida. … These essays are well worth reading both for the quality of the writing and for the continual insights which come to the surface along the way. The text has been devotedly translated and a helpful introduction has been added. – David Pollard, British Journal of Aesthetics